Just as an example of how screwed-up are Florida election laws yesterday Indian River Co.’s Canvassing Board approved the primary election results. Hopefully the reader will recall that Indian River had over 5000 ballots that were counted twice because someone decided to do a test in the middle of a real election and then failed to properly remove the results in that test. The result was ballots from 40 polling sites that were counted twice. Luckily an observant poll worker realized the totals for her site were double what they should have been. She pointed out the mistake and the county found their error.
Tomorrow the board must do a state mandated audit to ensure their voting machines were correctly counting the votes. If the poll worker hadn’t been observant and if this audit were to find the problem, or any other problem that might exist with the vote count, NOTHING can/could be done because the results have already been approved by the Canvassing Board.
One has to wonder what some officials in Florida are thinking when they make stupid rules. This audit is newly mandated. Why didn’t they mandate it to happen before canvassing the election? Post election audits are great. We need them everywhere and following every election but they have to be timed in such a way as to mean something if problems are found. If they don’t have a purpose (to ensure the votes were properly counted) then they are a waste of tax money….
- National: America Wants YOU to be a Poll Worker
Research shows how poll workers on the front lines of elections affect voter confidence.
http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/635 - AZ: 11,500 votes in Pima County not counted; final results released Thursday
Maricopa County has 43,000 still to be counted
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/95690.php - AZ: Still 43,000 ballots uncounted in Maricopa County
http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8947822&nav=menu613_2_6 - AZ: Pima County vote count slowed by hand-delivery
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/03/pima-county-vote-count-slowed-by-hand-delivery/ - CA: CA Appeals Court Strikes Down Ten Percent Ballot Audit
http://www.opednews.com/articles/CA-Appeals-Court-Bans-10-P-by-Rady-Ananda-080902-141.html - FL: Florida Loses Votes, Again; Fall Election Process in Question
http://www.casavaria.com/cafesentido/2008/09/03/612/florida-loses-votes-again-fall-election-process-in-question/ - FL: Local activist candidate for Broward Election Supervisor denied access to ballot recount
http://miami.indymedia.org/news/2008/09/11679.php - FL: Despite problems with vote totals, Indian River County Canvassing Board approves primary election results
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/sep/03/canvassing-board-approves-primary-results/ - FL: Palm Beach County ““ Editorial – The ballots are missing, so start finding answers
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/09/03/a10a_leadedit_recount_0903.html - FL: Palm Beach County – Recount end: Tallying totals by hand on legal pad
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2008/09/02/0903recountscene.html - FL: Palm Beach County – Election count errors under review
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpelection0903pnsep03,0,6149229.story - FL: Palm Beach County – 3,400 Ballots Missing in Florida Election: Recount Flips Race
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/3400-ballots-mi.html - FL: Palm Beach County – Losing Candidate Vows Legal Fight Over Vote Discrepancy
http://www.cbs12.com/news/candidate_4709396___article.html/vote_discrepancy.html - FL: Palm Beach County – State may give Palm Beach County more time to solve mystery of 3,400 missing ballots
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/09/03/0903recount.html - FL: St. Lucie’s canvassing board to audit voting equipment
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/sep/03/canvassing-board-to-audit-voting-equipment/ - KS: Sedgwick County – Advance voting key to short waits at the polls
http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/516143.html - NC: Craven County – Additional one-stop voting sites not intended to be permanent, official says
http://www.enctoday.com/news/one_41947_nbsj__article.html/voting_stop.html - NY: Niagara County – Changing the vote
http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_246234408.html - OH: Licking County – Voter registration system to change
County BOE: Switch won’t affect November election
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS01/809030315 - OH: Summit County – Secretary of state to break tie on absentee voting hours
http://www.the-news-leader.com/news/article/4328461 - TN: Opinion – Right to vote too important to trust electronic voting machines
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/OPINION03/809030405/1008/OPINION01 - UT: Eat My Vote: Election officials have no fear about the latest voting machine glitch. Others aren’t so sure.
http://www.slweekly.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=294C9D1A-14D1-13A2-9FE79F8AEA4FFA4F - VA: Warning for College Student Voters
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/03/voting - Guam: Voting machines still an option, if they comply with provisions
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080904/NEWS01/809040304/1002
**”Daily Voting News” is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in “Daily Voting News” may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or BradBlog.Com**
The Indian River situation could have EASILY been detected with PenVote’s TabTracker product. See http://www.penvote.com/TabTracker.html for details. We now have the ability for election administrators to be warned automatically when such things happen.
Yes Chris, if election authorities and the voters want to give up further responsibility for elections to a private, for-profit corporation then they should go out and purchase all of the software they can. Why not just hire Pen Vote to administer all elections and get the public servants out of the picture. Then we, the voter, will have no voice.
The fact is that Indian River should NEVER have done a test in the middle of a real election. They screwed-up and got caught. No amount of extra software ameliorates the error of experimenting with the voters votes.