Residents turn out to try new voting machines (Florence, SC)

The Morning News (Florence, SC) ^ | Oct, 10, 2004 | Bobby Tedder and Traci Bridges

[SC Swamp Fox]

Residents turn out to try new voting machines

FLORENCE - Residents turned out by the hundreds to test out Florence County’s new electronic voting system Saturday.

Moreover, officials said they were receptive at an open house at the former Florence County Library on Pine Street sponsored by the Florence County Voter Registration and Election Commission.

The event is part of a massive educational outreach initiative designed to familiarize the voting public with the set-up, officials said.

“It went very well - we got a lot of people acclimated to the system today without any complaints as far as I know,” Florence County Voter Registration and Elections Director Russell Barrett said.

Barrett estimated that a steady stream of people totaling between 400 and 500 came to the former library Saturday, eager to try out the electronic touch-screen machines that will be used for the first time in the Nov. 2 general election.

The new iVotronic voting system, programmed with advanced security features, prevents a voter from making a mistake, such as voting for too many candidates for a single office.

In addition, proponents said, voters are allowed to check and change their ballot choices before casting their ballot. “This is a voting system that will meet the needs of the people for 20 more years,” Barrett said, jokingly adding, “we had the punch-card system for the last 20 years, so this’ll be a good legacy for me to leave.”

In recent weeks, representatives of the Florence branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and several local officials have voiced concern that election officials will not be able to educate all Florence County voters on how to use the new machines in time for the election.

Barrett said he and his staff have been extremely busy conducting demonstrations throughout the county, including 60 such events in September. But, he said, with the election fast approaching, “we have to taper off at some point ... as we have to prepare and begin putting voting machines out by the precincts.”

In addition to demonstrations, the state election commission’s voter education campaign will include television advertisements, direct mail pamphlets, a Web site and a SCVotes Tour bus that will transport demonstration machines to festival events and other public venues throughout the county between now and Nov. 2.

[SC Swamp Fox]

I was one of the people that tried out the new voting machines on Saturday. I am not convinced that they are the solution to many of the problems with elections that have been well documented in the last few years. I am concerned that a voter verifiable paper ballot is not produced during the voting process. However, after talking to the election officials for almost an hour and going through the entire process with them, I now believe that voter fraud will be more difficult using this technology. (At least at the precint level.) Our vote total reporting system will remain unchanged with these machines.

[SC Swamp Fox]

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[the Deejay]

Flori-duh should be "practicing trial runs"
more so than any other state. Can't fathom
why they aren't.

[foofoopowder]

Why is it that Demo Rats manage to operate TV remote controls, ATM's, video games, bingo game cards, cell phones, etc., but they have so much trouble with a voting machine? Duh, in Florida. :)-

[dixie sass]

It sounds as though you are going to be using something similar to what we have. They are easy to use and you can't manipulate the information going in. Just remember to push vote when you finish.

[supercat]

I personally like the concept of the mechanical lever-action machines. I don't know enough about the inner workings to know if they contain three features I would consider essential, but a properly-designed lever-action machine should combine assured confidentiality of voters with ease of operation and reliability of results. While they wouldn't be free, I wouldn't think they'd cost excessivlely more than the fancy shamnty digital ones, especially when one adds in the costs of software maintenance contracts and such.

FYI, three features I would consider essential in a lever machine:

1. all counters should be sealed units that can never be reset or rolled back without creating visible evidence of tampering;
2. the machine must be set so that every ballot cast will always add a fixed total amount to all counters. In simplest form, each lever could have two counters: one for the number of ballots where it was selected, and one for the number of ballots where it was not. More complex arrangements could be used to reduce the number of counters and the expense of greater mechanical complexity.
3. There should a device which produces a time stamp of all ballots cast. Basically a punch-clock rigged to a paper tape. The time-stamp tape would give no indication of what candidates were selected; its only mechanical connection to the rest of the machine would be a cable running to the main operating lever. The punch clock should be designed so that it can only be set by running it forward, and should include a long counter of the number of times it has reached midnight. The "day" counter should be long enough that it will never wrap around.

Incorporating these features into a mechanical voting machine would result in a system that was much more fraud-resistant than existing devices. The machine could be constructed with windows to allow voters to confirm that certain key mechanical portions were operating, and the proper use of sealed subassemblies would make tampering very difficult. Although the time stamps would not in any way interfere with voter confidentiality (and voters could see, though a transparent panel, that the only connection between the time clock and the voting machine was the main operating -lever cable), they would make it much harder for someone to "vote the rolls" shortly before closing time. If a Republican voter showed up 30 minutes before close of polls and noticed that the clock was correct, it would be impossible for the Democrats to fake any ballots with timestamps prior to the observed time. And if a machine's time clock reports 200 ballots in the last 30 minutes, it would be hard for even a sardine not to notice that something was fishy.

[upchuck]

Thanks for the ping. As a poll clerk, I can tell you the iVote machines seem pretty steady.

However, they must be reset by a poll worker between each vote. This is done using a device called a PEB that is slid into the machine and then withdrawn. In a precinct with multiple ballots, the poll worker must also select the right ballot. Then the voter gets to cast their vote.

Election day will certainly be interesting :)

[Wampus SC]

"I was one of the people that tried out the new voting machines on Saturday. I am not convinced that they are the solution to many of the problems with elections that have been well documented in the last few years. I am concerned that a voter verifiable paper ballot is not produced during the voting process."

I meant to go to that, but wasn't able to.

Did you see if there's a way to cast a write-in vote?

[Howlin]

Why is it that Demo Rats manage to operate TV remote controls, ATM's, video games, bingo game cards, cell phones, etc., but they have so much trouble with a voting machine? Duh, in Florida. :)-

They can also play 8 Bingo cards at one time.

[supercat]

However, they must be reset by a poll worker between each vote. This is done using a device called a PEB that is slid into the machine and then withdrawn. In a precinct with multiple ballots, the poll worker must also select the right ballot. Then the voter gets to cast their vote.

Does the machine produce a tangible log of when votes were recorded? This would not seem like it should be considered a compromise of confidentiality, but if all the machines in a precinct saw 100 votes cast in the last half-hour, it might raise some questions.

[upchuck]

Yes Wampus, you can. If an office offers a write in candidate, you can press that selection. The screen clears and you are presented with a typewriter style keyboard on the screen so you can type the name of your candidate. Then you push a "Finished" button or some such and the screen displays what you typed in and offers you the ability to make changes.

It's really pretty user friendly. Just takes a little getting used to.

Sure wish it printed a paper receipt. I understand this feature will be added later.

[upchuck]

Does the machine produce a tangible log of when votes were recorded?

Yes it does. But by totals, not each individual vote. At the end of the day the machine prints a paper tape totaled by candidate. Two copies will be printed. One goes with the machine to the country election commission, the other get posted at the polling place.

[supercat]

Do you mean it only logs when the totals were printed out? I would think that to minimize fraud a machine should report that people voted at 9:03am, 9:05am, 9:08am, etc. It should say what candidates the person who voted at 9:08am selected, but it should show chronologically how the ballots were distributed.