Election day is tomorrow

Fulton and Clayton Counties, Georgia have decided that they will have enough time at the polls for all voters who want to vote to do that. They both decided not to ask the state, before-hand, to allow them to keep the polls open longer than normally allowed. Wouldn’t it have been better to ask to keep them open longer and have no one waiting on line than to force people to wait on line so you can close at the normal time? Of course, both counties have said they can handle the crowds because they have enough machines. They ignore, again, that the bottle-neck has been and will be the voter check-in procedure and their overly slow computer system. In other states it may be the ballot-on-demand system for optical-scan ballots.

In another great article from Kim Zetter and the WiredBlog, Threat Level, she reports on ‘vote-flipping’ and the ES&S voting machines.

Also from Kim is the news that one Michigan election official warned the EAC over a week ago that ES&S M-100 optical-scan machines used in her county don’t consistently tally ballots. These machines are used all across the country....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) received this letter [PDF] well over a week ago from Oakland County, MI, concerning ES&S precinct-based optical-scan systems that "yielded different results each time" the "same ballots were run through the same machines"...

This problem, discovered during pre-election "Logic & Accuracy" testing of the systems, would hardly be the first time that ES&S has failed to deliver on maintenance contracts, adversely affecting voters and election results in the bargain. We saw many similar problems during the 2006 primary election cycle. These precinct-based scanners are used throughout the nation, as ES&S is the nation's largest distributor of voting systems in the U.S.

The EAC received this letter a week ago, and we're trying to learn when it was finally posted to their website. But, more importantly, as they have a mandate via the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 to serve as a "clearinghouse" for such voting system problems, has the EAC sent a warning about this issue to any other jurisdictions where the same equipment or company is used?

Election day is tomorrow

Well, here we are. Tomorrow is the day we have been building toward. Today much of the news is articles of reassurance from election officials across the nation. They say they are ready. Tomorrow we will see just how ready they are. Our main reporting tomorrow will be on voting machine problems and long lines due to voting machine and voter registration data base problems. No matter how much officials assure their voters that they are ready machines still fail to work, polls open late, votes are flipped, polls run out of paper ballots, e-poll books fail, machines are allotted unfairly, and lines will be long. Wednesday and the rest of the week we will hear about the tabulation and reporting problems. Lost votes from tabulators that were not designed or built to handle the number of votes they are expected to count; ballot printing and programming errors that result in hundreds of lost votes. These and more have been the stories of the past. Can we expect any better for the rest of this week? I hope so but I’m not holding my breath....

2 days until Election Day.

I recommend that everyone watch the video that is our ‘Feature’ article this morning. This is what our election officials think of the voters? How can this woman compare standing on line to vote with standing on line for an I-Pod or baseball tickets? Amazing!

Lines for early voters in Georgia were reported to be 8 to 10 hours long last week. Lines in other states were hours long with thousands of voters standing in those lines. And now election officials across the nation are warning that lines will be long on Tuesday. What do the long lines do? They serve to turn voters away from voting.

How many of those voters who stood on line during early voting or who will be standing on line on Tuesday will lose wages from jobs they are not working at so they can vote? Is this not a type of poll-tax? Is it not voter suppression and disenfranchisement?

Our nation cannot allow this to be the norm. Investigations need to be held to find what are the causes of the bottle-necks and what can be done about them. If federal law needs to written and passed then that must happen so never again do voters have to stand on line for hours and hours so their voices can be heard. It is amazing that voters feel so strongly about exercising the franchise of voting that they would be willing to suffer as they have but they should never have to make that choice again....

3 days until Election Day.

Just a comment to those who want to dismiss ‘vote-flipping’ as voter error. All kinds of people go to the polls to vote. They are highly educated and high-school dropouts. Rich and poor. They have long fingernails and nails bitten to the quick. They have thin fingers and wide fingers. They are going to softly touch the screen or touch it hard. Vendors and election officials tend to blame vote-flipping on the voters. They touched the screen too hard; drug their finger; had long fingernails; or their fingers touched too large an area. So, is it the voters fault? NO! It is the vendors who designed, built and sold these machines that don’t work for all voters and it is the election officials who bought those machines.

A large majority of the ‘vote-flipping’ has been on older ES&S iVotronic DREs; those machines that were featured on last year’s Dan Rather Reports. The cheaply built, poorly tested touch screens that were used as components on those systems should have been scrapped long ago. It’s not the voters fault and this constant pointing of fingers is wrong. The vendors need to remember that when they point a finger at the voters they have three fingers pointing back at the real culprit, themselves; and it makes no difference what those fingers look like, they are the fingers of blame....

3 days until Election Day.

Amongst all of the stories of failures, lawsuits, voter purges and voter suppression there is an occasional story that begs to be read and passed on to others so they will read it. This morning’s featured article is one of those. Imagine wanting to exercise your right to vote so strongly that you are willing to travel from Bangalore, India to New York City just to step into the voting booth and pull the lever. It’s a story worth the read....

4 days until Election Day.

This from a statement by U.S. Rep. John Lewis this morning, during a state Capitol press conference to discuss those long waits to vote:

“We are requesting that the Secretary of State [Karen Handel] use Florida and North Carolina as an example. We ask that she extend early voting in Georgia through Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We believe the number of poll workers should be increased at polling sites where a large turnout is expected.

“She must increase the number of voter registration machines at locations where there is large turnout, and we are calling on Governor [Sonny] Perdue and Karen Handel to request emergency voting rights pre-clearance from the Department of Justice to clear the path for these changes.

“My office is preparing a letter right now, advising the Attorney General Mukasey of these issues in Georgia and encouraging him to grant emergency pre-clearance, when it is requested.”

It is still unknown whether the state is interested in letting their citizen’s voices be heard....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

From News4 in Jacksonville, FL...

If the signature doesn't match the voter is not asked to provide proof of who they are? In Washington state if our signature does not match on our absentee ballot the county contacts you and gives you the opportunity to go to the county election office and provide ID and your ballot is then accepted.

4 days until Election Day.

Georgia has, again, had problems with their voter registration database. This time there were between 500 and 1000 voters, depending on reports, who were left standing in line for two hours while they waited for Fulton Co. officials to reestablish connection with the state’s computer system. This will be a huge problem on election day and may cause thousands of voters to give-up and go home. Let’s hope not.

I never imagined that I would find myself agreeing with anything that John Fund had to say but in our ‘Featured’ article Fund wrote one graf that gives me hope for the guy. He said, “Independent, nonpartisan groups, as well as candidates and parties, should be authorized to appoint poll watchers to observe the election and the vote tabulation. All vendors who supply voting machines and computer software should be required to undergo investigation for financial security and integrity. Clear rules for identifying what constitutes a vote and procedures for contesting an election result must be developed by each state”....

5 days until Election Day.

The Brennan Center, Common Cause, and Verified Voting are reminding election officials from Diebold/Premier jurisdictions about a problem with Premier Election Solutions' vote tabulating software that could cause the system to lose votes. I hope this reminder and their recommended actions are not too late and that officials will listen and pay heed.

CNN did a pretty good article on straight-party voting. There was one quote that is good for a chuckle and shake of the head. One of the voting systems that has had reported vote flipping in straight-party voting is manufactured by Hart Intercivic. The vendor’s spokesman, Peter Lichtenheld, actually pointed at the voters for making the error and then said the problem stems from habits formed when doing punch-card voting. Yes, the voters just can’t tell the difference between a punch card and the Hart eSlate. He claimed, “In that system, you didn't know if the chad separated or not, so people would punch each candidate after punching the [straight-ticket] part, just to be sure.” It is amazing to what lengths the vendors will go to blame the voters for all of the problems with the vendor’s machines. ...

5 days until Election Day.

A deal was struck last evening in Colorado with the Secretary of State. 20,000 voters who were illegally purged from the state’s voter rolls will now be allowed to vote using provisional ballots and those ballots will get priority handling and a presumption of validity by Colorado counties.

The Reform Institute, a non-partisan public policy organization, today released a checklist to assist voters in casting their ballots. The checklist provides helpful tips for voters, especially those going to the polls for the first time, to facilitate a voting process free of complications....

6 days until Election Day.

Today a federal judge found in favor of the voters of Pennsylvania and ordered the state to require every polling place to be prepared to hand out paper ballots to voters any time 50% or more of the polling places voting machines go down for any reason.

The Election Assistance Commission announced today that they were intending to suspend SysTest Labs accreditation to test voting systems. This action follows the suspension of the lab by the National Voting Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The suspension was for SysTest’s lack of properly documented and validated test methods, testing conducted by unqualified or untrained personnel, and improper assurances made to manufacturers regarding testing outcomes. This loss of accreditation will probably affect SysTest’s ability to complete testing for the state of New York. It also brings into question all recent testing done for the state of Colorado and Ohio and all previous testing of voting systems under the previous NASED system. ...

6 days until Election Day.

A blind voter in Dane Co, Wisconsin, went to the polls hoping to finally be able to vote without assistance from another person. She ended up having to call over an election worker to assist her because the ES&S AutoMark machine only gave her an error message. Then when that was fixed her ballot would not print out because the machine was out of ink. She had to have someone help her to mark a paper ballot. And, this was in the Madison City Clerk's office, not an out-of-the-way polling site. Federal law says there must be an accessible voting machine at each polling place. I guess Congress should have pointed out the obvious: That machine has to work.

This morning, along with the rest of the news, we also have reports of vote flipping on ES&S iVotronic machines in Jefferson Co, Texas. And also from Texas there are reports of ill treatment of voters at some polls in the state. Poll workers are taking it upon themselves to demand photo ID even though state law does not require it. They are also not offering provisional ballots in instances where they are required to offer them....

7 days until Election Day.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has declared an emergency in the state and has decreed that polling places are to stay open overtime. Polls will now be open for up to 12 hours a day across the state. Now we will wait to see if any county election officials decide to file a lawsuit against the Governor so the poll hours are not extended.

The Brennan Center and VerifiedVoting have sent a letter to 16 Secretaries of State warning them about vote flipping on their ES&S iVotronic DREs. We certainly hope the Secretaries pay attention and accept the suggestions in the letter....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Wait times for voters are reported to be as much as 8 hours at one early polling site in Georgia, and now the Atlanta Journal-Constitution offers this:

This is early voting. Not all polling places are open so there are only a limited number of polling sites checking in voters. The slow-down and crashing of that system has little to do with high voter turnout. It is once again, as it was during the primary in GA, the ironically-named Diebold "ExpressPollbook" registration check-in computer that is slowing things up.

If the system is already not working with only a limited number of poll sites open, what will happen when all polls are open on November 4th?

UPDATE: All of that comes on top of late news that GA has illegally purged and/or flagged nearly 5,000 voters from their registration databases, incorrectly identifying them as "non-citizens".

UPDATE FROM BRAD: In our continuing desire to try and help bring a smile, even during these difficult times, we offer the ironic, related, very short (appx 1 minute) and amusing "Early Voting" video, as posted at right, just out from our friends who made the great Election Integrity documentary Free For All. Enjoy!

UPDATE FROM BRAD 10/29/08: RAW STORY has video of voters waiting 8 hours to vote in GA. Thank you to those voters who were willing to hang in there! Shame on you to those officials who set up this system that can't even accommodate the limited numbers of early voters! God save us all next Tuesday. Stay strong and brave people!