Chicago and Cook County Voters Urged to Check Ballots Carefully

[kster]

New optical scanners don't warn of undervotes
by Robert A. Wilson, Illinois Ballot Integrity Project


http://www.opednews.com

Evanston, February 25, 2006. Early voting in Illinois begins Monday, February 27th, and voters in Chicago and Cook County voters will mark their choices on a paper ballot that is read by new optical scanners. But these new scanners lack an important feature, they can’t detect undervotes which occur when voters fail to select a candidate or proposition on the ballot. “We urge Chicago and Cook County voters to carefully check their ballots to make sure that they have voted for every candidate or proposition because there’s no ‘second chance’ anymore,” warns Claire Tobin, chairperson of the Chicago Chapter of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project.

City and County voters will use new voting equipment purchased at a cost of about $50 million, primarily with money appropriated under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) which provides funds to replace outdated outmoded voting systems like some punch card and lever machines. More than half of that amount, $25.5 million in taxpayer dollars was used to purchase about 5,600 Optech Insight precinct optical scanners from Sequoia Voting Systems, which unlike the system they replace don’t give undervote warnings.

Nearly 120,000 undervotes for president occurred in Chicago and Cook County in the November, 2000 General Election. Officials blamed the Illinois Legislature for failing to amend the election Code to allow them to use the undervote detection capability on the new voting machines. According to Lance Gough, executive director of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, “These ballot screening procedures have been in place since <2000>, and have significantly improved voter accuracy and voter confidence."

“The 2000 presidential election, when Chicago had 72,000 undervotes - more than 7% - proved that giving an undervote warning is important in ensuring that every voter’s intent is expressed at the polls,” said Patrick O’Hara, vice chairperson of the Chicago Chapter of IBIP.




http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_robert_a_060226_chicago_and_cook_cou.htm

[mopinko]

1. i'll have to read this whole thing tonight.

i don't have time right now, but asaik, this is ONLY the early voting set up, and not election day.
they have got their nose under the tent here.

[minvis]

2. This is for election day as well

That's the way I read the article. There will not be the punchcards this year. You'll fill in a little circle on the ballot and the optical scanner will read it.

[DaveJ]

3. "at a cost of about $50 million"

Sorry about this being slightly OT but that cost is ridiculous. $50 million for 5.4 million Cook county residents is $9.26 per resident which surely is well over $20 per voter, yet nobody questions who's fat lazy pockets are getting lined now.