Problems with Diebold machines already conceded in Vousia County, Florida!

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD03POL110206.htm

November 02, 2006

Supervisor told new vote machines pose time-change problem

By JIM HAUG
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- Voting machines could stop accepting votes an hour or more before the polls close on Election Day because of a glitch in their automated clocks, elections officials said Wednesday.

<>McFall was waiting for assurances from Diebold, the manufcturer, and the state Division of Elections that the machines would not prematurely turn off next Tuesday. The County Council decided to buy the touch-screen machines in February after a year of debate about how to meet a federal mandate for access for disabled voters.

<>The machines are believed to be off an hour because their automated clocks were set back for daylight-saving time at the urging of the Diebold representative, McFall said. But the machines were already set to change automatically for daylight-saving time, she said. In another glitch, the time of the machines apparently goes back an hour every time they are turned on and off. So units at the four early-voting sites could be off by as much as six hours.

Glitches with the voting machines' clocks are believed to be confined to the five counties -- Polk, Putnam, Glades, Leon and Volusia -- that got the new, Class D machines from Diebold. Diebold did not respond to calls for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Anita Lapidus, a lawyer with the Florida Coalition of Free Elections in DeLand, said it was too early "to know the extent of the problems." "This is what happens when you rush it through the process," said Lapidus, noting the Class D machines have not been certified by the state.

(Interesting, indeed, that these Diebold DRE machines have not been certified. The Volusia County Commission wanted to buy new opti-scan machines equipped for handicapped voters, rather than these Diebold DRE's--but the state would not allow it--as they had not yet been certified by the state of Florida.)