FL -- Sequoia machines hinder vote retrieval

[nashville_brook]

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/09/Hillsborough/Human_error_possible_.shtml

TAMPA - The cause of a late-night glitch that hindered votes from being retrieved on three electronic machines remained unclear Wednesday, but a Hillsborough elections official said it could have been a simple human error.

Workers in Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson's office experienced the problems just after 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. An employee with Sequoia, the company that makes the machines used here and in Pinellas County, fixed the problem in about 45 minutes and the votes did get counted, officials said.

Votes recorded on the machines are downloaded onto cartridges that are later read at the elections center. It's likely that a Hillsborough elections worker tried to pull out a cartridge before it had finished reading the data, said Chuck Smith, systems administrator for the elections supervisor.

"It could be as simple as that," Smith said.

The exact cause of the problem may never be known, he said. It's a situation that's happened at least twice since Hillsborough began using the touch screen Sequoia Voting Systems machines in 2002.

[SoFlaJet]

1. Note to Dems....

PLEASE make election reform the top priority after the 100 hour thingy
Thank you
A Sequoia Voting Floridian

[philb]

2. Anyone have an idea of how the company employee chose the vote count #s to use?

[philb]

3. some of reported irregularities in Hillsboro in 2004

Hillsboro County(Kerry)
049616 11/02/04, 5:59 PM PSTVoter Intimidation; Provisional ballot problemCuban Civic Center Memorial Highway, Tampa, Hillsborough County, FloridaVoter not yet on rolls. Voted by provisional ballot @ 2 PM. Asked to provide name, address, DOB on outside on envelope with ballot. Envelope also had space for phone number marked optional. Poll worker said he had to enter phone number even though she did not want to. At 5 PM, voter received a phone call at the # written on the envelope asking for her by name (even though it was her mother's phone number). Caller asked voter who she voted for on provisional ballot. The voter and her mother used #69 to get the caller's ID- [phone]

050221 11/02/04, 6:35 PM PST Other ballot-related problemTampa, Hillsboro County, Florida When caller got to the end of voting electronically to confirm who she voted for, one of the candidates showed in red. She tried to correct it by backing up, it told her that she hasn't voted for anyone in the County. She asked for help and the assistance was bad. She was not able to cast an electronic ballot (the machine spit out her card).
Hillsboro Elections Office complaint forms

Precinct 454, 10:00 am, Oak Grove Church of God, Voted for Dems, Repub comes up, She talked to poll worker; lady with glasses, light hair, She said keep on punching button; machine 2nd from the wall.

Precinct 301, Had to punch several times before ti accepted my choice.

Precinct 429, 10:05 am, Voted for President,but review showed no vote. Asked for help. Had to go back and vote 3 times before vote showed on screen.

(Castor-U.S. Senate)
033202 11/02/04, 7:46 AM PSTMachine problem Fair Oaks Recreation Center - 5019 North 34th Street , Hillsborough County, FloridaMachine (2nd on right) automatically jumped to Martinez after voter attempted to vote for Castor - machine would not let her change the vote or view her final vote summary.


018900 10/31/04, 2:29 PM PST Machine problem; Other Tampa, Hillsboro County, Florida At one of the precincts on Martin Luther Blvd, College Hill Library, Tampa Fl, before you finished voting electronically, the electronic voting card would pop out, barring you from finishing voting. This is in a predominatly Black area. Polling people told them not to worry about it; said it had been happening all day.

There are other larger lists from 2 other sources- Common Cause and reports to the Hillsboro Co. Supervisor