Expert: Palm Beach's New Voting Machines Have Problems

Associated Press ^

[TheOtherOne]

Expert: Palm Beach's New Voting Machines Have Problems
By Jill Barton Associated Press Writer
Published: Jul 16, 2002

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - The voting machines that replaced butterfly ballots and hanging chads are checked by an "Enron-style of auditing" and don't provide voters any assurance that their votes are being cast, an expert testified Tuesday.

Rebecca Mercuri, a computer science professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, said questions remain about the $14 million machines Palm Beach County purchased to improve its voting system because they are designed to audit themselves.

"The problem with the self-auditing machines is if it's broken, how can it tell you that it's broken?" Mercuri said.

Mercuri's testimony provided the latest criticism of a county still embarrassed by the 2000 election debacle. She was called in a Tuesday afternoon hearing to bolster a Boca Raton man's claims that he lost a City Council election in March because the new machines malfunctioned.

Former Mayor Emil Danciu's suit seeks to have the results overturned and a new election held.

The suit includes affidavits from eight voters who said they had trouble casting ballots on the ATM-style machines and says voters should be given paper receipts to confirm their vote was recorded.

It also seeks to allow an independent review of the voting machines and related software and security features.

Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore says such a review would void the machines' warranty and that they've been reviewed twice by labs appointed by the federal government and also by a state worker.

She says most of the information the plaintiffs are seeking is filed with the state Division of Elections in Tallahassee and even if it were available, she couldn't provide it because it includes trade secrets of Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., which manufactures the machines.

"I'm not willing to let anyone take a machine and take it apart," LePore said. "I don't think the taxpayers would appreciate them taking apart a $3,500 machine and voiding the warranty."

LePore has said the only problems reported to her office following the March election were screens temporarily freezing when voters chose between English and Spanish, which did not prevent voting.

She said the machines further demonstrated that they work Saturday when the county held a mock election in supermarkets and shopping malls allowing voters to try out the machines.

AP-ES-07-16-02 1756EDT

[TheOtherOne]

Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore says such a review would void the machines' warranty and that they've been reviewed twice by labs appointed by the federal government and also by a state worker.

She says most of the information the plaintiffs are seeking is filed with the state Division of Elections in Tallahassee and even if it were available, she couldn't provide it because it includes trade secrets of Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., which manufactures the machines.

"I'm not willing to let anyone take a machine and take it apart," LePore said. "I don't think the taxpayers would appreciate them taking apart a $3,500 machine and voiding the warranty."

We don't appreciate someone stupid enough to buy voting machines that can't be audited or checked with out voiding the warranty?

[JulieRNR21]

FYI.....'Stupid is as stupid does'...Forest Gump

[Black Agnes]

The voting machines have problems alright....the VOTERS!

sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Black Agnes]

The voting machines have problems alright....the VOTERS!

sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Reeses]

To commit voter fraud you need a Democrat, but to steal an election you need a computer voting machine.

[Black Agnes]

Sorry for double post, I only hit the post button once I swear!

[JulieRNR21]

No matter what kind of machines are used the RATs will whine if their fraud fails to make their candidate the winner....LOL

[alnick]

Exorbitantly expensive voting machines can never solve the problem of stupid and/or careless voters.

[browardchad]

Broward County has new machines, also. They are foolproof, according to our new (Democrat) Supervisor of Elections, except for one thing -- there's no way to prevent a poll worker from taking one and voting multiple times on it.

Other than that, they're just perfect, we are told.

[Black Agnes]

Whining rats. What else is new...These computerized machines do bother me. How exactly do you 'check' a vote? How do we know the programs are accurate and don't have 'If Hillary, then Vote = Vote + 100000' added on every one?

[Blood of Tyrants]

The problem is the loose screw pushing on the buttons.

[goldstategop]

Liberal idiots are still ... idiots. No newfangled machine is going to make up for some people's attention deficit when they pull the lever. The solution's simple: people who aren't knowledgeable about who to vote for shouldn't be allowed to vote, period. Maybe they can try that in Palm Beach and Broward counties before they blame the failure to get the votes counted correctly on the new voting machines.

[not-alone]

LePore has said the only problems reported to her office following the March election were screens temporarily freezing when voters chose between English and Spanish, which did not prevent voting.

That is what happened to me. They told me they solved the problem by doing something at the back of the machine, but I never believed I had voted. There were also problems in other elections such as Wellington.

Interesting they didn't have the spanish and english screen at the mock election last Sat.

[Blood of Tyrants]

From the stories I have read about voting machines, there is no way to know. The program is secret and subject to view by only the people who built the machine. I really don't trust computerized voting, especially when the tally algorithm is not subject to public scrutiny.

[SamAdams76]

[JulieRNR21]

Broward County has new machines, also. They are foolproof, according to our new (Democrat) Supervisor of Elections, except for one thing -- there's no way to prevent a poll worker from taking one and voting multiple times on it.

That's why POLLWATCHERS are essential....only way to monitor the RATs!

[not-alone]

I posted on another thread how bad the voters were last week, but I still worry about fraud. After watching the recounts and all the ways they found Gore votes, these machine seems too easy to manipulate.With only 3000 vote in the mock election they lost the votes from one machine, but later said they got them back off the hard drive.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

How do we know the programs are accurate and don't have 'If Hillary, then Vote = Vote + 100000' added on every one?

Because BASIC is SO 20^th century:

while (1){count(hillary)++;}

[not-alone]

agree !!

[copycat]

"I'm not willing to let anyone take a machine and take it apart," LePore said. "We don't want anyone finding the linkup to Democratic National HQ."