Election officials backtrack to identify voting machine glitch

[sled]

INDIANA - Election officials backtrack to identify voting machine glitch

http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_3339868,00.html

By BRYAN CORBIN Courier & Press staff writer

November 19, 2004

Today, election officials will try to duplicate the computer
malfunction that locked up the screens of some electronic voting
machines on Election Day.

The experiment is part of a larger process to diagnose causes of long
lines at Vanderburgh County polling places that resulted in a flurry
of voter complaints.

County Clerk Marsha Abell estimates approximately 150 mailed-in
absentee ballots were not counted because of handling errors, either
by voters or by a temporary Election Office employee who was
terminated. The postelection review, ordered by the Vanderburgh County
Commissioners, continues today in the county election office in
Evansville's Civic Center.

Officials are looking for any discrepancy between the number of people
who signed in to vote at certain precincts Nov. 2 and the number of
votes actually cast. "We are going to try to pull 14 precincts and
hand-count the number of ballots the machine (had recorded as) cast in
that precinct. We are going to compare that to the poll book and see
how accurate we are," Abell said. Vanderburgh County paid $2.9 million
for the touch-screen voting system. On a day of high voter turnout,
532 of the company's iVotronic touch-screen voting machines were in
use. Poll workers at some precincts complained that computer screens
locked up, halting the voting process, at least temporarily.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. The Repugs assured us that these systems were totally reliable

now we find out that it is almost impossible to know for sure who won even in local races.

Pen and paper is the only way and it's so damn cheap it's not even funny. Whos care how long in takes to count ballot after election day, as long as the ballots get counted.

I don't care who wins or loses, just as long as we know they won fairly.