Princeton study shows how easily electronic votes can be changed

Princeton study shows how easily electronic votes can be changed

Candidates please read the election advisory in its entirety
Election Advisory No. 2006-16

Jefferson County uses ES&S. Here you can see why some people are skeptical of electronic voting.

For more information on this study please visit:

E-Voting Studies at Princeton

Below the video is a report from Florida of voters saying their votes were flipped from one candidate to another. So this proves that Jefferson County is not the only county dealing with this problem!

-Jeffrey J. Ortiz





Voters in Fla., Texas complain of e-voting glitches
Some said their votes were flipped from one candidate to another

November 01, 2006 (Computerworld) -- Elections officials in southern Florida are downplaying recent reports of glitches encountered during early voting on electronic voting machines -- most notably, a problem known as "vote flipping."

The alleged problems occurred this week in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and were spotlighted in articles in the Miami Herald. Florida was the site of the notorious hanging chads that were central to the disputed presidential election of 2000. In part because of the issues in Florida that year, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which, among other things, was aimed at replacing lever-activated and punch-card systems with electronic devices.

In Miami-Dade County, e-voting machines allegedly flipped candidates -- meaning the candidate chosen by a voter was not the candidate registered by the machine -- something officials denied. "I am happy to report that there are no glitches in any of the electronic voting machines at Miami-Dade early voting locations," said Lester Sola, supervisor of elections for the county. Despite the reported glitches, investigations found no problems, said Sola, who emphasized the precautions taken to ensure accurate voting.

"As a precautionary measure, if a voter makes a complaint about a particular machine, that machine is closed and sealed until a technician can assess the problem and, if necessary, take corrective action," he said. "That is what happened with two machines at early voting. After analysis, we have not found any problems with our machines. All deployed units are operational, and I can assure you that no votes were lost while assessing these units."

The voting device vendor is Election Systems & Software Inc., Sola said, adding that the system will work as planned. "We take many aggressive steps to ensure that the election is programmed and tabulated accurately," he said. "We balance the number of voters that enter a precinct to the number of ballots cast there. We also reconcile each touch-screen unit against audit data to ensure that the results are accurate."

In nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, similar flipping incidents were also reported on ES&S iVotronic systems. Such problems are common for at least a certain percentage of voting machines, according to Peter Corwin, assistant to the Broward County administrator.

He said the machines aren't suffering from a universal software glitch; rather, some individual devices have unique problems. These were addressed by recalibrating the devices, a process that didn't involve the loss of any votes. "Like anything else, we'll shake it out as a minor problem," said Corwin.



New Concerns Expressed About Early Voting

October 30 - Jefferson County commissioners are voicing their concerns about problems with electronic voting machines.

County Judge Carl Griffith said he pressed a button and made a choice on the touch-screen, but another option appeared.

Commissioner Mark Domingue urged voters to place their fingers in the exact square for the candidate of their choice, and then review that choice before pressing the red vote button.

During the first week of early voting, several Jefferson County voters have told KFDM they selected one candidate, but instead, the opponent's name lit up.

The county clerk says less than one percent of voters have complained about the problem, she says they've all caught the mistake on the review screen.

Carolyn Guidry/Jefferson County Clerk:
"We wish that we could give them more space to put their fingers in, but that template is set by ES&S, and we don't have any way of changing, and the company itself would have to go back through certification through the Secretary of State's office before they can change anything."

The Texas Secretary of State's office tells KFDM News it's of the concerns. A spokeswoman says check with your County Clerk's office, and if you still have questions or problems, call the Texas Secretary of State's office at 1-800-252-VOTE.

So far, more than 9,900 people have voted early.
Early voting ends Friday. The election is Tuesday, November 7.

According to the most recent campaign finance reports, Ron Walker, the Democratic candidate for Jefferson County Judge, has spent $25,080.27, and Billy Job, the Republican candidate, has spent $11,934.75.

angels@kfdm.com