Report Exposes Excessive E-Voting Machine Malfunctions in Mid-term Elections - New England Patriots Forums

***IcyPatriot*** · 01-03-2007, 10:26 PM

Report Exposes Excessive E-Voting Machine Malfunctions in Mid- term

The report itself: http://www.votersunite.org/info/E-Vo...06Mid-Term.pdf

Where I learned of the report:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3978

Quote:

A report [PDF] prepared by civic watchdog groups VotersUnite.org, VoteTrustUSA and Voter Action found the 2006 mid-term elections were marred by persistent and widespread voting machine malfunctions. In preparing the report “E-Voting Failures in the 2006 Mid-Term Elections,” the groups examined data collected from the Election Protection Coalition hotline (1-866 OUR VOTE) and the Voter Action hotline, reports submitted from Election Day pollworkers through the Pollworkers for Democracy project and local and national news accounts collected by VotersUnite.Org.

In all, 1022 accounts of machine related problems from more than 300 counties in 36 states were examined and categorized. The report summarizes and provides contextual and comparative analysis of the difficulties caused by each type of equipment problem, such as machine malfunctions that impeded polls from opening, machine failures at poll closing and vote tabulation, and votes lost or changed on the voting machine screen. It also includes first hand accounts from voters and pollworkers describing the machine difficulties they encountered on Election Day and how the machines hampered the voting process.

The report recounts incidents of voters leaving without casting a vote because the machines would not start or broke down during Election Day. Machines often failed to record the voter’s correct choice on the ballot or summary screen and caused voters to question if their vote was recorded. Several pollworker accounts described problems closing the machines, retrieving vote totals from the computerized systems, and aggregating the totals with software, sometimes counting votes multiple times or failing to count them at all. The report suggests that in some cases votes were lost.

The Predator · 01-03-2007, 11:41 PM

This totally stinks for everyone, but why is it the republicans are not whining, walking out of Congress, rioting, or demanding a recount? If the Democrats lost, it would be WW3. I am not a rep or a dem. I am a NH indi, but this seriously stinks. Maybe the Dems should take the lead and show the correct results and fix the issue for the next election.

***PressCoverage*** · 01-04-2007, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Predator

This totally stinks for everyone, but why is it the republicans are not whining, walking out of Congress, rioting, or demanding a recount? If the Democrats lost, it would be WW3. I am not a rep or a dem. I am a NH indi, but this seriously stinks. Maybe the Dems should take the lead and show the correct results and fix the issue for the next election.

perhaps because so far, no one is substantiating the story besides one guy's blog... when/if the mainstream media picks it up, it'll get attention... nonetheless, it's hardly a surprise that there were malfunctions with voting machines...

Real World · 01-04-2007, 01:00 PM

Anytime you rely on machines for something, there are going to be some problems. Anyone expecting 100% efficiency here, is going be a tad disappointed.

Pujo · 01-04-2007, 01:32 PM

I'm happy that the FEC is demanding electronic voting machines be fitted with printers to leave a paper trail. There's no telling which candidates would get screwed more by faulty votes, but all of the voters get screwed if their votes don't count.

BruschiOnTap · 01-04-2007, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Real World

Anytime you rely on machines for something, there are going to be some problems. Anyone expecting 100% efficiency here, is going be a tad disappointed.

There should never be machines involved in such important business. Period. NFL refs should do the counting