Big Presidential Vote Count Error Found and Fixed in New Mexico

[MagickMuffin]

An electronic voting machine test in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, on Friday revealed a programming error that, had it not been caught and corrected before the start of early voting next week, would not have counted hundreds -- or possibly thousands -- of votes for president and U.S. Senate in this Democratic stronghold.

The software error concerned straight party voting, where voters fill in one oval on their paper ballot that indicates they want to vote for all the candidates from a political party. The test revealed that the county's vote-tabulating computer, which scans the ballots and compiles the vote total, was not counting "straight party" votes for president and U.S. Senate.

"It was a simple error," said Rick Padilla, a senior system supervisor for the Santa Fe County Clerk office, which runs county elections. "When they did the programming, they didn't link the oval to the (presidential and senatorial votes on the) straight party ticket."

"It is one of the things that always has to be checked really carefully in a general election," said Terry Rainey of Automated Election Services, the company that programs the tabulator and provides other voting services in New Mexico. "That is why we test."

According to OpenSecrets.com, Donald W. Anderson, the company's owner, donated $1,000 to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, in December 2007.


EDIT: MORE @ link

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/101567/big_presidential_vote_count_error_found_and_fixed_in_new_mexico/



I would suggest we ALL call our county elections office before early voting to make sure the machines are working properly.

[hobbit709]

1. Why is it that these "programming errors"

always seem to appear in heavily Democratic areas.

[MagickMuffin]

3. Just the way it goes, or just the luck of the draw

It does only seem to be localized to Democratic areas. At least they are now using paper ballots. Better for recounts, but how would they determine there should be a recount:shrug:

Did you read the whole article?.?.?

This part stuck out at me:

New Mexico Election Integrity Issues

Since the 2004 election, New Mexico has shifted to voting on hand-marked paper ballots that are scanned by optical scan computer counters. That transition came after election integrity activists found that paperless electronic voting machines used in the 2004 presidential election did not record more than 21,000 votes for president -- most in historically Democratic strongholds.

There were many explanations offered for the so-called presidential undervote, but the activists tend to believe that voters may have touched the electronic voting machine's screen more than once, which, instead of emphasizing the presidential choice, actually deselected or erased their presidential vote.

Because George W. Bush beat John Kerry in 2004 in New Mexico by slightly more than 6,000 votes, the high undervote rate was among the factors that prompted the state to return to using hand-marked paper ballots. That way, if there was another close count, county election officials could audit or recount the paper ballots to settle disputes, advocates argued.



I appears that with 21,000 votes NOT registering that Kerry actually WON NM. Bush only "won" with a lead of 6000 votes. I guess we should feel lucky have decided to test the machines before next weeks early voting.

[No Elephants]

2. How much has the company's owner donated to Republican candidates?

[MagickMuffin]

4. The article only list Bill Richardson as receiving money

$1000.

[MagickMuffin]

5. Kicking this back up to the top

:kick: