ES&S iVotronic simulation for Ohio voter education SWITCHES VOTES!

[eomer]

Try the simulation that ES&S has provided at:
http://www.ohiovotereducation.com/voterTryout.html

Play around with it and you'll see that when you go to the Review screen it sometimes reflects your choices correctly and sometimes switches them.

Kudos to ES&S for giving Ohio citizens an accurate simulation of a real iVotronic DRE!

[LisaM]

1. Is it for real, or a joke?

It wouldn't even register any of my votes at all on the second list (the musical artist one) and it kept making a really loud, obnoxious noise before I hit submit.

Worse, it makes a very loud "CHING" noise for each ballot cast. Doesn't this mean that it's really not a secret ballot? If you elected to not vote on one or more issues or candidates, someone could very easily figure that out by counting the CHING noises.

[eomer]

8. Is it for real?

The home page says it is "Powered by the Franklin County Data Center". I did a whois on the IP addresses and found that ohiovotereducation.com is hosted by the same organization that hosts the Franklin County website (www.co.franklin.oh.us). The host is OARnet in Columbus (which, of course, is the county seat of Franklin County).

I also found an article in the Columbus Dispatch that directs readers to it:
http://www.dispatch.com/emailme/emailme.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/13/20060413-B1-01.html

As far as I can tell it is for real.

[Atman]

2. What are you saying, that computers can be RIGGED!

Imagine that!

[mom cat]

3. I love it when they shoot themse;ves in both feet and then reload.

[SlipperySlope]

4. Wow, is this a parody?

It gets the votes COMPLETELY wrong.

[The Doctor.]

16. Lemme ask you this...

Did that annoying BUZZ! BUZZ! at the review screen just make you want to say 'fuck it' and accept the results?

[Amaryllis]

24. Reality these days is so bizarre that it goes beyond parody.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. HAH! I voted for Volvo and at the end it showed up as Ferrari.

No singers showed up.

[EFerrari]

13. We planned it that way.

:evilgrin:

[Greyskye]

6. Dang, I got it stuck!

It now will NOT let me vote for Volvo; keeps showing a vote for Ford on the paper ticket, nothing shows as selected on the screen, and if I go ahead and 'vote', it says "Ferrari"! :rofl: :cry:

[OnTheOtherHand]

7. Funniest. Flash. Ever.

(setting aside, of course, any conceivable real-world implications)

I don't do much K&R even at Foger's instigation, but this is six-sigma.

[DemReadingDU]

9. I voted for Elvis

he never showed up


HeHe, LOL

[greiner3]

10. I was going to do a write-in;

For Porsche and when I did it counted my ballot. Unfortunately it was blank and the 'receipt' was so blurry it was unreadable. Yay Ohio! Why go south when we have it all?

[farmbo]

11. Elvis must be a Democrat!

I voted for him and it turned out blank.

Scary!

[slay]

12. Check out my errors - I'll show ya what I did and how to get um

This is some kinda of joke right? Or is it an IN YOUR FACE fuck you from ES&S.

Check this out. My first time through the ballot, I select BMW and a green check mark appears beside it. Ok, all seems well. So I move on next selecting Janis Joplin for my singer, but NO green check mark appears. Odd. I heard the sound that was made from the BMW check mark appearing, but no actual check mark appeared. So I clicked it again, and this time Janis did get her check mark. (Did I vote for her twice? WTF knows) But anyways, it gets WORSE. After picking your ice cream and vote on those props, review your ballet. Now there will be 2 check marks beside best vocal artist - but there will be NO NAMES. As you remember, I only voted for one and that was Joplin.

WTF?!?!

IF THIS SHIT IS REALLY FROM ES&S THEY HAVE TOTALLY PROVEN OUR POINT ABOUT HOW YOU CAN NOT TRUST THEIR MACHINES!!!

http://www.ohiovotereducation.com/voterTryout.html

*edited for clarity

[The Doctor.]

15. Pretty much the same thing here...

I voted for Jaguar, no prob.
Then Barry White and Stevie Ray Vaughn. I had to click twice to get the check to appear.
I wrote in on the Ice Cream "Rum Raisin"
Then voted 'yes' for three-day weekends and bi-annual wage increases.

When I reviewed the ballot, everything was there but the singers- two green checks, no names.

So I went back to try it again.

My Rum Raisin selection disappeared, even though the box was still checked.
And no matter what I did, I could not get the singers to appear in the review screen.

And somehow I don't think I was the only one to notice the BUZZZ!!! BUZZZ!!! at the review prompt.
If I were voting in a room with other people, that noise would have made me think, "Gotta get this over with... I'm sure the machine registered my vote..."

Do those machines actually buzz like that?

If they do, it is a blatant psychological/behavioral instigator. It would only have one true purpose.

IF these machines behave like this even 1% of the time... it's too much.

[harmonyguy]

14. Try Voting for Stevie Ray Vaughn...

and then see who's name shows up on the 'tape'.

Is it any 'Wonder' that things are screwed up?

Regarless of your taste in music, someone sure had fun with this one.


If you do not select a choice for ice-cream flavor, your vote goes to Chocolate, and if you do not make a selection on Prop 2, your vote goes to someone but doesn't indicate to whom.

Obviously, their programming skills with MacroMedia Flash are on par with their election systems.

HG;

[FogerRox]

17. Ok

I did a write in ballot for Toyota.

I voted for Buddy holly

Chocolate ice cream

3 day work week

Pay raises every 6 months.

UPon review, My vote for Buddy Holly did not show up on the review.

I went back, 3 times to vote for Buddy. 3 times he dod not show up in review.

Then I switched my vote to Stevie Ray Vaughn- twice it didnt show in review.

Then I voted for Stevie Ray Vaughn and Barry White, again not shown in review

That is funny as shit.

[skids]

18. Hrm, well I can't even see who I voted for.

...the review screen shows boxes with checks on the, but no text inside.

However, I do know that there is a mistake, because I only voted for one singer, and there are two checks there. It failed to register an intentional undervote.

This is hilarious in that it proves a point that we've known for so long, and of course scary in the larger context. I never thought I'd feel "reassuringly terrified."

K and F'n R. Spread this folks, this is the next "Chevy Taho Advertisement"

[mhr]

19. Exactly The Behavior Seen In Dallas County 2004 General Election

Dallas County used ES&S machines for early voting in the 2004 general election.

As a clerk, I personally observed straight party Democratic ballot votes switched to straight Republican votes on the review page.

I offered to file an affidavit for anyone that will listen.

No takers so far.

[FogerRox]

20. Rate This UP-- & Send to your friends

[Senator Debra Bowen]

21. DU'ers: Please document the errors!

Take screen shots of successive screens; save in whatever format you can, chronologically in time-stamped files if at all possible, print, save, archive, whatever.

It's sometimes hard for people who are not obsessed with secure and valid elections to understand the problems with the touch screens. This little demo makes it so clear.

I've played with it a bit, and if I go back to review an earlier choice, various additional odd things happen. My write in ice cream (Chunky Monkey, if you must know) still shows on the "paper trail," but the screen says Chocolate. There are so many errors in the vote for musician I hardly know what to say.

Steve Ray Vaughn :applause:(who really is a personal fave) keeps turning into Stevie Wonder, who isn't even on the ballot!

So keep records ... you may email your files to me at info at debrabowen.com

:kick:
Major, major kick and hat tip to eomer for this find. If it's real, as the whois check would suggest, it's mind-boggling!

Senator Debra Bowen
:patriot:

[harmonyguy]

22. Try running an SWF decompiler....

...on the Flash file that is the demo.

The scripting of the components is very telling.
For example, the Chocolate default isn't a simple 'glitch' or logic error. The variable is initialized to 'Chocolate' in the very first frame, while the other race defaults are initialized to something more appropriate.

[Wilms]

23. Well, well. If it isn't California's next SoS!

Welcome to DU, Senator.

And thank you for all you continue to do.

[FogerRox]

25. Welcome to DU Sen, Bowen. Stevie Ray is one of my all time favs.

Kickin for the Senator, & ES&S.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. this should be sent to the media in Allegheny Co PA

If you are in PA, (or not) maybe it would be interesting to
send a link to this to the media there.

Call em up, make sure they read the e-mail and give touchscreen
voting a try!

Seriously, it didn't register all of my votes on the DRE, but
it did print them as I made the selections.

People will have to check closely to make sure this doesn't
happen in real life!

Agh.

Best argument for paper printout and against DRES.