In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Voting Machine Update
Fairfax Judge Orders Logs Of Voting Machines Inspected
It took more than 21 hours from the time polls closed Tuesday night for Fairfax County, the putative high-tech capital of the region, to get final election results from its new, computerized vote machines.
Widespread problems in the system, which the county paid $3.5 million to install, also opened the door to possible election challenges by party leaders and candidates.
School Board member Rita S. Thompson (R), who lost a close race to retain her at-large seat, said yesterday that the new computers might have taken votes from her. Voters in three precincts reported that when they attempted to vote for her, the machines initially displayed an "x" next to her name but then, after a few seconds, the "x" disappeared.
In response to Thompson's complaints, county officials tested one of the machines in question yesterday and discovered that it seemed to subtract a vote for Thompson in about "one out of a hundred tries," said Margaret K. Luca, secretary of the county Board of Elections. Emphasis mine.
Maybe now Republicans will think that invalid elections are a big deal?
Presently in congress there is Legislation that could add voter-verified paper ballots to touch-screen electronic voting machines the has 61 cosponsers, but it is stalled in a House committee. How could it be stalled you ask? All 61 cosponsers are members of the democratic party. Hmmm... party loyalty and insuring the integrity of our election process. These shouldn't be difficult decisions.
Anyway, here's a good summary of the voting machine story that we cover from time to time at TCS: Electronic Voting Debacle (yep from a British IT site of all places).
So, how do you know that the machine actually counted your vote? You don't! Oh sure, you may see a screen at the end of the process that shows you what you selected ... but how do you know that those choices are actually tabulated? The answer: trust the companies that make the machines. But that attitude, if it ever made sense, has been shown to be not just wrong but foolhardy in the past several months.
- rob 5:31 PM - [PermaLink] -
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