Major Problems At Polls Feared

[ProSense]

Major Problems At Polls Feared

Some Officials Say Voting Law Changes And New Technology Will Cause Trouble

By Dan Balz and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page A01

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In the Nov. 7 election, more than 80 percent of voters will use electronic voting machines, and a third of all precincts this year are using the technology for the first time. The changes are part of a national wave, prompted by the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 and numerous revisions of state laws, that led to the replacement of outdated voting machines with computer-based electronic machines, along with centralized databases of registered voters and other steps to refine the administration of elections.

But in Maryland last Tuesday, a combination of human blunders and technological glitches caused long lines and delays in vote-counting. The problems, which followed ones earlier this year in Ohio, Illinois and several other states, have contributed to doubts among some experts about whether the new systems are reliable and whether election officials are adequately prepared to use them.

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In 2004, some Democrats alleged widespread voting irregularities in Ohio, including questionable vote-counting and problems with machines in Democratic-leaning precincts. Nonpartisan election experts have said the problems were not so severe to call President Bush's victory, by about 119,000 votes, into question.

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Beyond technical bugs, questions remain about whether the machines are vulnerable to vote fraud by hackers.

For several years, prominent computer scientists have taken aim at the electronic voting machines, which in essence are computers. In analyses of the software that runs widely used models of the machines, and in tests on specific brands, the scientists have shown how they could manipulate the machine to report a vote total that differed from the actual total cast by voters.

Machine vendors and some election officials have said that, while changing vote totals may be possible for someone with sophisticated technical knowledge in a controlled experiment, it is highly unlikely in a real election, given the security and oversight.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600885.html

ThinkFast: September 17, 2006 — Ballot Watch Edition

The major group fighting against the proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriages in Virginia — the Commonwealth Coalition — has raised twice as much as the largest proponent of the amendment.

A new ad opposing stem cell research in Missouri “warns that young women might sell their eggs for money” if the measure passes. In fact, the amendment specifically states “no person may buy or sell human blastocysts or eggs for stem cell research, therapies or cures.”

A judge has approved a November initiative that will allow voters in Sarasota, Florida, to decide “whether to continue using computerized voting booths or go back to paper ballots.”

A Nevada initiative to raise the minimum wage is backed by 77 percent of state voters, including 79 percent of independents and 64 percent of Republicans.

A Montana judge last week invalidated three right-wing ballot measures “aiming to rein in government powers,” citing what he called a “pervasive and general pattern of fraud” by out-of-state signature-gatherers.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/17/thinkfast-september-17-2006-ballot-watch-edition

Judge tosses three citizen initiatives from ballot

[Aviation Pro]

1. What fucking security and oversight are they talking about....

...the community center where my son does gymnastics doubles as a polling precinct. At 7:00 PM when the polls closed, some unknown technical person, in full view of me, grabbed the E-voting machine, slammed a dial-up line into its modem port, punched a couple of buttons, then said, "shit" when it didn't download correctly, rebooted and then sent the data God knows where. There was no sterile area, it was over an unprotected line, and there was no firewall at all. Fortunately, we have a choice between paper and machine in my county and I will never touch a screen as long as I have that choice.

I will cast an absentee ballot when machines are made mandatory.

[ProSense]

2. From the GAO report:

Multiple recent reports, including several state-commissioned technical reviews and security assessments, voiced concerns about the development of secure and reliable electronic voting systems by system vendors. Three major areas of concern are weak security controls, audit trail design flaws, and weak security management practices. Weak system security controls. Some electronic voting systems provided weak system security controls over key components (including electronic storage for votes and ballots, remote system access equipment, and system event and audit logs), access to the systems, and the physical system hardware.

[HockeyMom]

3. Broken Lever Machine

I have always used lever machines here in NY. Only once in all 30 years of voting did I ever encounter a problem. After I had clicked all my selections, I went to pull down the big arm to record my ballots and open the curtain. It wouldn't budge. I called a poll worker over and she couldn't move it either. She then immediately called two police officers over who put yellow tape around the voting booth and one stood guard in front and the other behind it. I used another machine.

My daughter went to vote at the same polling place approximately an hour later. She arrived just as the machine was being loaded, yellow tape still around it, onto a Brinks Truck. The two police officers stood by while it was loaded on the truck.

I have always seen at least one police officer whenever I have voted. I always thought it was for perhaps some kind of physical altercation? I did not know they were used to guard the machines should they break down.

Incidentally, this instance occurred fairly recently, during Hillary's last Senate run.

[ClintonTyree]

4. Yep, same here.

I've been voting for 38 years on the "old fashioned" lever machines and they've been as accurate and dependable as can be. Which is why Republicans and their Corporate masters want them out of the picture as soon as possible. You can't cheat on those machines and that infuriates Republicans.

The day I have to vote on a touch-screen machine is the day I start casting absentee ballots.