PA: 08 Vote Records in Montgomery County Reveals Discrepancies Between Votes Cast and Voters

[Wilms]

Review of 08 Vote Records in Montgomery County Reveals Discrepancies Between Votes Cast and Voters

Submitted by Steve Strahs on May 13, 2010

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The Election Reform Network is coming forward today with a report that points to dangerous deficiencies in the voting process in Montgomery County. The report uncovers disparities between machine counts and voter attendance for three-quarters of election districts (EDs) in Montgomery County during the 08 general election.

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Montgomery County has used the Sequoia AVC Advantage vote machine since 1996. The AVC has been the subject of controversy in New Jersey, when in the 2008 primary, it was discovered the machines miscounted the number of ballots cast.

Key findings include:

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• 304 of the 406 EDs studied (75%) had some disparities between the machine count and the numbered poll lists.

• Thirty-one of the 304 EDs with disparities between the machine count and the numbered poll lists (10%) had more machine voters than names on the numbered poll list. The rest, or 90% of the EDs with disparities, had more names on the poll lists than voters recorded in the machine count.

• Of the five ED poll books - with actual voter signatures - reviewed as a check on our poll list data, we found three with poll book signature counts of between 300 and more than 600 fewer signatures than the machine count of voters. A fourth ED had a disparity of 63 voters.

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Section CS 3154(b) of the Pennsylvania election code requires that counties compare the records of the number of voters with the number of actual ballots cast prior to the certification of election results. If in any election district the number of votes for any office exceeds the total number of voters, the county is required to investigate. And until the matter is resolved, the votes from that election district are to be excluded from the official count.

However, there is no evidence that the County has ever examined the potential for such discrepancies or worked to either fix the machines or fix the sign-in process.

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http://www.electionreformnetwork.us/node/229

[seeviewonder]

1. Sounds like it is definitely

something that needs to be investigated. I'd try to encourage
the county/state officials to take a closer look. This is a
little fishy to me. Sort of reminds me of the report before
the '08 election that a flier or something was distributed in
a Virginia(?) town stating that students could not vote on
campus.

[Melissa G]

2. K&R#10

Bears Repeating...
disparities between machine counts and voter attendance for three-quarters of election districts (EDs) in Montgomery County during the 08 general election.

Thanks, wilms! :hi: