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Voting Problems in Ohio (Again)

By TChris, Section Elections
Posted on Wed May 03, 2006 at 02:20:14 PM EST
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by TChris

It's time for another Ohio election, which means it's time for more ballot problems:

Election officials had trouble printing ballot receipts, finding lost votes and tabulating election results in Tuesday's primary. Some election workers were late or did not show up at all in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, the state's largest. Others could not figure out how to turn on the machines.

Couldn't figure out how to turn on the machines? Good grief.

And then there's this:

Cuyahoga County was searching for memory cards holding votes from 74 polling locations. Spokeswoman Jane Platten said the cards might have been left in machines, but she would not discuss details, citing security concerns. The county had reported results from only about 86 percent of precincts by midday Wednesday.

"A few" memory cards were reportedly replaced after they failed. This was deemed a solid performance by the machines' manufacturer. How many votes are lost when "a few" memory cards fail?

The worst problems in Ohio appeared to be in Cuyahoga County, where officials resorted to paper ballots after touch-screen machines failed and about 17,000 absentee ballots were being hand-counted.

And which company supplied the voting machines to Cuyahoga County? You guessed it: Diebold.

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    Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Wed May 03, 2006 at 03:15:43 PM EST
    Diebold continues to keep good on their promise to Bush. Forget about how to turn the machines on the real question is how do we pull the plug?

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#2)
    by scarshapedstar on Wed May 03, 2006 at 04:14:56 PM EST
    Man, Diebold has got to be the unluckiest company on earth. This stuff always happens! Good thing their Republican paymasters are so forgiving...

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 03, 2006 at 05:28:11 PM EST
    I am a man of no great stature, Diebold did the country capture. Times were great, In lone star state. A nuke or two then the rapture.

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#4)
    by Sailor on Wed May 03, 2006 at 05:31:11 PM EST
    The worst problems were in Cuyahoga County? Gee, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that:
    Cleveland commonly breeds the strongest support in the state for the Democrats; Cleveland's two representatives in the House of Representatives are Democrats: Dennis Kucinich and Stephanie Tubbs Jones. During the 2004 Presidential election, although George W. Bush carried Ohio, John Kerry carried Cuyahoga County, which gave him the strongest support in the state.
    Anyone else remember how the pres of diebold said he could deliver ohio for bush?

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#5)
    by Johnny on Wed May 03, 2006 at 06:49:45 PM EST
    Anyone else remember how the pres of diebold said he could deliver ohio for bush?
    A liberal conspiracy, I am sure... *rolls eyes*

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#6)
    by nolo on Wed May 03, 2006 at 07:10:17 PM EST
    I can say from experience that there were big problems in Cuyahoga County in the 2004 election too. As for yesterday, all I can speak to is my own experience at my own polling place. The poll workers did not seem to have the operation of the voting machines down as well as I'd like, that's for sure.

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#7)
    by Edger on Wed May 03, 2006 at 07:38:13 PM EST
    Analysis of an Electronic Voting System [.PDF] Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute Technical Report TR-2003-19, July 23, 2003.

    We discovered significant and wide-reaching security vulnerabilities in the version of the [Diebold] AccuVote-TS voting terminal found in [9] (see Table 1). Most notably, voters can easily program their own smartcards to simulate the behavior of valid smartcards used in the election. With such homebrew cards, a voter can cast multiple ballots without leaving any trace. A voter can also perform actions that normally require administrative privileges, including viewing partial results and terminating the election early.

    We identify several problems... We conclude that this voting system is unsuitable for use in a general election.
    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#8)
    by squeaky on Wed May 03, 2006 at 08:13:07 PM EST
    The security of the machines is clearly not an issue. If it were they would not allow them to be used. Dummy. BTW-The NH phone jamming thing is completely unrelated. A couple of bad eggs. Just ask the RNC. They know the machines are working just fine.

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#9)
    by Lora on Wed May 03, 2006 at 08:14:44 PM EST
    What gets me is all these lovely e-voting machines were theoretically tested and certified. A fat lot of good that did! Hand-counted paper ballots in public view. Sounds better all the time.

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#10)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu May 04, 2006 at 04:28:01 AM EST
    No, what we need is vote-by-mail with optical scanners.

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#11)
    by Lora on Thu May 04, 2006 at 06:53:18 AM EST
    Vote-by-mail with optical scanners: 1. Depends how the vote-by-mail ballot is set up. There have been problems where the positioning of items on certain ballots is such that the mark may be shifted slightly so the op scanners would not pick it up. 2. Who opens the mail and is in charge of the ballots? The chain of custody has to be trustworthy and secure. 3. Op scan ballot counters are electronic also and the system can be hacked. At least you have the original paper ballots for a back-up, but how do you get them counted by hand if you suspect fraud? It is nearly impossible in many states, and sometimes only possible after the election has already been ratified.

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#12)
    by Edger on Thu May 04, 2006 at 06:59:07 AM EST
    "On Sunday's Meet the Press, Karl Rove explained his secret for winning elections. "We employed a simple formula that has been used by many of the most successful campaigns run in the last 200 years..."

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu May 04, 2006 at 10:17:31 AM EST
    Edger. It simply doesn't happen in modern democracies. But there again. A force spokesman said: "Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the local election process in Birmingham." The woman is reportedly the wife of an election candidate. An Election Court hearing had found the ballot-rigging perpetrated in two Birmingham wards "would have disgraced a banana republic". Thousands of votes had been forged, stolen or tampered with.

    Re: Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) (none / 0) (#14)
    by squeaky on Thu May 04, 2006 at 11:08:07 AM EST
    This from digby:
    Suit Turns Voting Rights Act on Its Head
    Abu Gonzales is prosecuting voting irregularities. Black Democrat voting irregularities that is. Republicans do not cheat, evidentially. Dieblod spells: J U S T T R U S T U S

    Voting Problems in Ohio (Again) | 14 comments (14 topical)