Bogdanoff certified as 12-vote winner [Electronic voting machines reliability questioned]

South Florida Sun-Sentinel ^ | January 13, 2004 | Anthony Man and Kathy Bushouse

[Int]

Bogdanoff certified as 12-vote winner

A heated recount for a state House seat finally ended Monday night, but the six-day wait for a winner has reignited demands for assurances that electronic voting machines are accurate.

Ellyn Bogdanoff's 12-vote victory margin over Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Mayor Oliver Parker ultimately held up in the House District 91 race, but controversy swirled after 137 voters in parts of Boca Raton and coastal Broward County went to the polls but didn't cast a vote for any candidate.

State Rep. Joe Negron doesn't think that many people would go to the polls without voting.

The result raises suspicions about the accuracy of the electronic equipment. But the absence of a paper trail means there's nothing that can be done to verify the results shown by the electronic devices.

[clintonh8r]

The field in that election was the biggest herd of RINOs this side of Tanzania.

[Cicero]

I suppose it's not her fault, but I mistrust a politician named Ellyn.

[NonValueAdded]

Anyone who thought putting high tech devices in front of our seasoned citizens has never stood in line behind one at an ATM machine or watched them interact with a multifunction phone, set the clock on a VCR, and so forth and so on. And no, not all seasoned citizens are technically challenged, just a relatively small sampling of them, say 134 in a community the size of Lauderdale-by-the-sea.

I would like to know why Broward County and some of the others chose to ignore the success enjoyed by Brevard County (among others) with their fill-in-the-oval optical scanner. Zero change during the recount. Mess up the ballot or even insert it the wrong way and the machine spits it back out to you. Perhaps counties like Broward relish being in the spotlight and look forward to a debacle in 2004?

If I had my say, the state government would decertify these devices with no audit trail and force those counties to pay for replacement systems out of their own budget.

[Mannaggia l'America]

Anyone who thought putting high tech devices in front of our seasoned citizens has never stood in line behind one at an ATM machine

I have an idea - they should make the electronic voting machines look like slot machines.

I was in Atlantic City a few weeks ago, and those seasoned citizens had no problem handling those.