FL-13: Case For New Election Continues To Mount
by Chris Bowers, Fri Dec 01, 2006 at 08:10:50 AM EST
A federal agency is set to recommend that a large number of electronic voting machines no longer be used, including those in the still undecided FL-13 congressional race:The NIST paper also noted that, "potentially, a single programmer could 'rig' a major election."
It recommends "requiring SI [software independent] voting systems in VVSG 2007." The NIST is also going to recommend changes to the design of machines equipped with paper rolls that provide audit trails.
Currently, the paper rolls produce records that are illegible or otherwise unusable, and NIST is recommending that "paper rolls should not be used in new voting systems."
The lack of software independence has reared its ugly head in Sarasota's Congressional race, where 18,000 fewer votes were cast than in other races on the same ballot.
A recount was futile in that election because Sarasota uses a DRE-type machine. The recount was futile, and even the bogus audit showed serious problems:An audit of the county's touch-screen voting machines Tuesday found several discrepancies, most prominently in the disputed 13th Congressional District race, but state elections officials said it is unclear whether the problems were the result of human or machine error.
All four voting machines that officials used to simulate the Nov. 7 election had miscounts, and three of them had miscounts in the District 13 race [...]
The voting machines tested Tuesday were among those that the state programmed for the county, but were not used in the Nov. 7 election.
State officials selected four precincts, and had their workers vote to reflect proportionately how votes were cast in the actual election [...]
Of the 251 ballots cast, five additional votes were counted for Jennings, including three extra votes in one precinct. There were also miscounts in five other races.
"Most likely it's human error," said Jenny Nash, spokesperson for the State Division of Elections. To recap at this point:
It recommends "requiring SI [software independent] voting systems in VVSG 2007." The NIST is also going to recommend changes to the design of machines equipped with paper rolls that provide audit trails.
Currently, the paper rolls produce records that are illegible or otherwise unusable, and NIST is recommending that "paper rolls should not be used in new voting systems."
The lack of software independence has reared its ugly head in Sarasota's Congressional race, where 18,000 fewer votes were cast than in other races on the same ballot.
A recount was futile in that election because Sarasota uses a DRE-type machine. The recount was futile, and even the bogus audit showed serious problems:An audit of the county's touch-screen voting machines Tuesday found several discrepancies, most prominently in the disputed 13th Congressional District race, but state elections officials said it is unclear whether the problems were the result of human or machine error.
All four voting machines that officials used to simulate the Nov. 7 election had miscounts, and three of them had miscounts in the District 13 race [...]
The voting machines tested Tuesday were among those that the state programmed for the county, but were not used in the Nov. 7 election.
State officials selected four precincts, and had their workers vote to reflect proportionately how votes were cast in the actual election [...]
Of the 251 ballots cast, five additional votes were counted for Jennings, including three extra votes in one precinct. There were also miscounts in five other races.
"Most likely it's human error," said Jenny Nash, spokesperson for the State Division of Elections. To recap at this point:
- There was an unusually high undervote in FL-13.
- The undervote flipped the results of the election.
- This is Katherine Harris's district
- A federal agency just recommended de-commissioning the types of voting machines used in the district.
- The audit of the machines showed serious problems.
Tags: Christine Jennings, election reform, FL-13, House 2006, Vern Buchanan (all tags)
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