NC must redouble efforts to iron out problems with electronic voting

[Thom Little]

Efforts to shore up waning public confidence in elections, confidence eroded by the fiasco in Florida in 2000 and countless other incidents around the country, are being made in a number of states, including North Carolina.

Unfortunately, the progress in this state is on shaky ground. N.C.’s Board of Elections gave its blessing Thursday to three companies hoping to sell voting machines to the state’s 100 counties. One of those firms is Diebold Election Systems. That selection is puzzling because a judge had only days before shot down a request by Diebold. The company had requested protection from charges and fines for failing to disclose its software code, which is required by North Carolina law. Diebold said it was worried about disclosing third-party software code and was considering pulling out of competition in the state.

Critics, such as Joyce McCloy of the North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting, pointed with dismay to problems with Diebold machines in other states. McCloy said, “You are really asking for trouble. It’s going to destroy the confidence of the citizens of the state.’’

That confidence was shaken in 2004, when electronic voting machine problems came home to the Tar Heel State. More than 4,400 electronic votes in Carteret County simply disappeared in the election that year, tying up the outcome of a close race for state agriculture commissioner.



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