Reply #8: Dems take aim at vote flaws

[Melissa G]

Dems take aim at vote flaws
Bucks candidates say county has failed to assure valid tallies.
By Scott Kraus Of The Morning Call
Computer science experts at Lehigh and Princeton universities will soon begin poring over voting machines like the ones purchased last year by Bucks County, looking to expose their flaws and vulnerabilities.

But the Democrats challenging for county commissioner already have identified the county's selection of the machines as one of their incumbent opponents' potential weaknesses in both the primary and general elections.

''I think its probably one of our top issues,'' said Diane Marseglia, a Democrat who along with Steve Santasiero is mounting a primary challenge to incumbent Democrat Sandy Miller and former commissioner Andy Warren. ''I think it borders on an outrage.''

Using an Internet government surplus auction and a rental truck, the Coalition for Voting Integrity, a Bucks County nonprofit, obtained, from Tennessee, five Danaher electronic touch-screen voting machines like the ones used in Bucks County.

Coalition members say the machines are impossible to check for errors because they don't produce a voter-verified paper ballot. The group has provided electronic machines like the ones used in Bucks and Montgomery counties to Dan Lopresti of Lehigh University and Rebecca Mercuri, founder of Notable Software and an electronic voting expert.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/quakertown/all-b1-2votingmar06,0,569499.story?coll=all-newslocalquakertown-hed