Voting Machines // Current

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7 months ago

Key Witness Republican IT Specialist Dies in Suspicious Plane Crash

A top Republican internet strategist who was set to testify in a case alleging election tampering in 2004 in Ohio has died in a... more

jimmyp
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THE DIRTY 20! (tips to make sure your vote counts)

I have compiled the 20 tips that will help you make sure that your vote will get counted... this time! Check it out and spread!... more

jordiortegatv
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Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software

Blogged by David Safier Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software Pima County, AZ, Election... more

Conniepae
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Gallup Poll - Does it matter?

Voters' presidential preferences remain favorable to a Barack Obama win on Tuesday, with 51% of traditional likely voters... more

Bigdog_mike
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Will Your Vote Be Hacked?

Eight years on from the Florida chaos that introduced hanging chads to the world there have been reports of problems with... more

Bigdog_mike
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Tech Report: Voting Machines

Ben heads to UC Santa Barbara to talk to the professors behind a study on Sequoia Voting Systems, a voting machine used in... more

infoMania
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Last week on Current.com - 10/20-10/26

Once again, Monday got away from us. I assure you it's for a good cause. // VC2 Leaderboard Winner // Anyone... more

mario_a
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Vote machine flipping caught on tape

In this disturbing video, the potential problems voting machines could cause on Election Day is seen in stark light.

pigmonkey
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Voters sue Pennsylvania

ANP: Voters to sue the state over voter rights. Earlier this week, ANP reported that come November, Pennsylvania voters could... more

Vierotchka
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Dems sue PA, Demanding Paper Ballots

NAACP, Voting Rights Coalition Demand Paper Ballots If 'Majority' of Voting Machines Fail
Sec. of the Commonwealth Had Previously Decried Paper Only Necessary if ALL Voting Machines Break Down in a Precinct...
Finally! A lawsuit [PDF] has finally been filed today in federal District Court in Pennsylvania, against the Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pedro A. Cortes and the Commissioner of the state's Election Commission, Chet Harhut, over Cortes' recent decree that paper ballots only need be given out to voters in the event that every voting machine in a precinct breaks down.

That stunning decry was in opposition to PA's state law which allows election officials the discretion to give emergency paper ballots to voters if even a single machine breaks down in a precinct.

That neither Obama nor the DNC have said a word about this in the month or so since Cortes issued his decry has been maddening, and should be an outrage to voters of all parties in the Keystone State, sure to be another battleground state this November. The lawsuit was finally filed today by the state's NAACP in concert with the 866-MYVOTE1 Election Reform Network.

While the complaint should call for paper ballots to be made available to any voter who wishes one, or, at a minimum, to be given out if just one machine breaks down in a precinct, or even if the wait time in line is longer than 30 minutes, unfortunately, the suit calls very conservatively for emergency paper ballots to be given out if 50% or more of the voting machines in a precinct break down. But at least it's something, we guess, particularly in lieu of Obama and/or the DNC taking any action at all here, given they have the most to lose by the ridiculous action from state Democrats.

Pennsylvania uses unverifiable Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) machines across most of the state, and saw machine failure after failure, as we documented in detail during their April primary this year. The failures resulted in untold numbers of disenfranchised voters, as noted in news reports, and logged by calls to the 866-MYVOTE1 hotline...

"Voters should not be forced to wait hours in line in order to exercise their fundamental right to vote," said John Bonifaz, legal director for VoterAction.org and co-counsel for the plaintiffs in a statement issued today. "While the use of electronic voting machines continues to pose a separate threat to the integrity of the vote-counting process, federal court intervention is necessary to ensure that voters will not be disenfranchised by long lines on Election Day in Pennsylvania, when these machines become inoperable."

In a declaration filed with the suit, J. Whyatt Mondesire, the president of the NAACP State Conference of Pennsylvania, notes: "One of the major impediments to members exercising their right to vote is the long lines frequently encountered on election day...Thousands of members have faced serious delays in voting when machines have broken down in the past and this problem will be much more severe this year when unprecedented numbers of voters will be coming to the polls."
NAACP, Voting Rights Coalition Demand Paper Ballots If 'Majority' of Voting Machines Fail Sec. of the Commonwealth Had... more

pigmonkey
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13 responses

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9 months ago

W.Va. Machines are switching votes to GOP

Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early... more

pigmonkey
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58 responses

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9 months ago

NJ voting machines easily hacked

"The electronic voting machines used in 18 of New Jersey's 21 counties can be hacked into in as little as seven minutes... more

Conniepae
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21 responses

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9 months ago

Judge suppresses report on voting machine security

A judge of the New Jersey Superior Court has prohibited the scheduled release of a report on the security and accuracy of the... more

stantheman
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2 responses

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9 months ago

The Voter Registration Battle

Day two of Live From Main Street and GRITtv’s special programming on voting in the United States. Registration deadlines... more

GRITtv
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0 responses

added
10 months ago

Princeton University Exposes Voting Machine Flaws

I hope more attention is brought up concerning the vulberability of voting machines before this upcoming election.

bishopobispo
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4 responses

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10 months ago

How will you and your state cast ballots in November?

This year, as a result of a lot of changes in voting machines around the country, numerous voting districts across many states will be using new voting equipment that has either never been used in an election or has never been used in a national election involving millions of voters.

When new systems are used, problems often arise either with the equipment itself or with election officials and voters who are unfamiliar with it.

To see what equipment you and your state will be using in November and to familiarize yourself with it before the election, VerifiedVoting.org, an election integrity group that led the movement to get voter-verified paper audit trails added to touch-screen voting machines, has produced a comprehensive interactive map identifying the voting systems being used in election districts across the country. As far as I know, this is the most up-to-date list of voting equipment that exists.

The map offers several options for viewing. You can look at systems at a statewide macro level or click on a state to get a micro view of the various systems being used in each county or voting district, including the accessible equipment being offered for disabled voters. At the district level, you'll also find information about the maker of the voting machines and contact information for the election office.

The voting machine landscape has changed a lot since the 2000 presidential election when punch-card voting systems and dangling chads spawned a heated national debate and Supreme Court battle.

As a result of the 2000 debacle, the Help America Vote Act was passed in 2002 allocating federal funds to replace antiquated punch-card and lever machines with newer election technologies. Election officials quickly spent millions of dollars to buy paperless touch-screen voting machines -- also known as Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines -- that were touted by their makers as faster, more accurate and easier to use than punch-card machines.

But in 2003, technical reports began surfacing about serious security issues with the machines as well as reports about breakdowns and other problems. Public opinion has forced some voting districts to back away from the equipment since then. In some cases entire states -- such as California and Florida -- have outlawed DRE machines for use by anyone other than disabled voters and have recently replaced their touch-screen systems with new optical-scan machines.

In the last two years, 131 counties across 9 states -- California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- have abandoned their DRE machines in favor of paper ballot voting systems, according to statistics collected by VerifiedVoting.

While some states like Nevada and Utah have added paper trails to their DRE machines, the District of Columbia and six states -- Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey and South Carolina -- still use DRE's without paper trails statewide. A handful of other states use mixed systems -- paperless DREs in some districts and paper-based voting systems in other districts.This year, as a result of a lot of changes in voting machines around the country, numerous voting districts across many states... more