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Broward machines count backward
PalmBeachPost.com ^ | 11/05/2004 | Eliot Kleinberg

Posted on 11/05/2004 7:47:45 PM PST by RogerWilko

Friday, November 05, 2004

FORT LAUDERDALE — It had to happen. Things were just going too smoothly.

Early Thursday, as Broward County elections officials wrapped up after a long day of canvassing votes, something unusual caught their eye. Tallies should go up as more votes are counted. That's simple math. But in some races, the numbers had gone . . . down.

Officials found the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward.

Why a voting system would be designed to count backward was a mystery to Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman. She was on the phone late Wednesday with Omaha-based Elections Systems and Software.

Bad numbers showed up only in running tallies through the day, not the final one. Final tallies were reached by cross-checking machine totals, and officials are confident they are accurate.

The glitch affected only the 97,434 absentee ballots, Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes said. All were placed in their own precincts and optical scanners totaled votes, which were then fed to a main computer.

That's where the counting problems surfaced. They affected only votes for constitutional amendments 4 through 8, because they were on the only page that was exactly the same on all county absentee ballots. The same software is used in Martin and Miami-Dade counties; Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties use different companies.

The problem cropped up in the 2002 election. Lieberman said ES&S told her it had sent software upgrades to the Florida Secretary of State's office, but that the office kept rejecting the software. The state said that's not true. Broward elections officials said they had thought the problem was fixed.

Secretary of State spokeswoman Jenny Nash said all counties using this system had been told that such problems would occur if a precinct is set up in a way that would allow votes to get above 32,000. She said Broward should have split the absentee ballots into four separate precincts to avoid that and that a Broward elections employee since has admitted to not doing that.

But Lieberman said later, "No election employee has come to the canvassing board and made the statements that Jenny Nash said occurred."

Late Thursday, ES&S issued a statement reiterating that it learned of the problems in 2002 and said the software upgrades would be submitted to Hood's office next year. The company was working with the counties it serves to make sure ballots don't exceed capacity and said no other counties reported similar problems.

"While the county bears the ultimate responsibility for programming the ballot and structuring the precincts, we . . . regret any confusion the discrepancy in early vote totals has caused," the statement said.

After several calls to the company during the day were not returned, an ES&S spokeswoman said late Thursday she did not know whether ES&S contacted the secretary of state two years ago or whether the software is designed to count backward.

While the problem surfaced two years ago, it was under a different Broward elections supervisor and a different secretary of state. Snipes said she had not known about the 2002 snafu.

Later, Lieberman said, "I am not passing judgments and I'm not pointing a finger." But she said that if ES&S is found to be at fault, actions might include penalizing ES&S or even defaulting on its contract.


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: broward; election; florida; voting
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Wonder what's up with this?? The DUmmies are having a heyday with article thinking it might the key to turning the election around! HAH!! Yeah right!

Right in the article it says:

"That's where the counting problems surfaced. They affected only votes for constitutional amendments 4 through 8"

It doesn't diddly-squat about affecting any votes for president. I don't know what's up with this, but someone named Bev Harris has got the DUmmies all stirred up with hope and they're dumping money on her like white on rice! I guess they didn't learn their lesson dumping money into the Skerry Campaign!

1 posted on 11/05/2004 7:47:45 PM PST by RogerWilko
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To: RogerWilko
Cripes - who programmed these machines didn't declared their variables to be

long unsigned int

Shame on them!

2 posted on 11/05/2004 7:49:33 PM PST by Fitzcarraldo
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To: RogerWilko

I listened with glee to Randi Rodent on Err America today and this is all they bitched about...of course they left out some very relevant facts this article points out...like it had nothing to do with the Presidential election! HA-HA!


3 posted on 11/05/2004 7:50:38 PM PST by God luvs America (When the silent majority speaks the earth trembles!)
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To: RogerWilko
It doesn't diddly-squat about affecting any votes for president.

True enough, but better that any and all of these sorts of irregularities see the light of day. This is a serious snafu.

4 posted on 11/05/2004 7:50:40 PM PST by TenaciousZ
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To: RogerWilko

Hey Hanoi Kerry

The BEST is yet to come from Viet Nam Vets!

WAIT till America knows the REAL truth about you!

Your "honorable discharge" is as phony
as your Purple Hearts and your other phony medals!

You and the MSM are traitors to the American public!

Go to France you scum! And take the MSM with you!

THEN the MSM can't try and "fix" another
election with their phony polls.




Yes, Nov 2 was a great battle victory!
But the war is NOT over.
I've seen on TV and heard on the Radio
attacks about Swift Boat Vets AFTER the election.
And what liars they are.
So closure is NOT going to happen for Viet Nam Vets, yet.
Time to expose Hanoi Kerry in the MSM once and for all!
Then Viet Nam Vets will FINALLY be vindicated.
THEN it will be over!

DON'T LET THIS STORY DIE!

THE story that
ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times
DON'T WANT AMERICA TO KNOW!

John Kerry's Discharge
He won't sign Form 180
What is he hiding?

Ex-Navy sec to Kerry: Open up your records
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41230

NY Sun 11/01/04
Kerry's Discharge Is Questioned by An Ex-JAG Officer

http://www.nysun.com/article/4040

"There is overwhelming evidence that the Navy gave John Kerry either a dishonorable discharge
or an undesirable discharge – which is the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge
without the felony conviction – and that, as a result of such discharge,
he was stripped of all of his famous but questionable Navy awards and medals.

And the kicker? The evidence is on his website!"

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41200

BUT
ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times
made sure you knew about the Bush phony National Guard documents.

Q) Why did
ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times
NOT ask Kerry about why he wouldn't sign Form 180?

A) Because they are AFRAID of the REAL story!




EXPOSE HANOI KERRY!

Distribute these url's!

http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html

There is a backup site
if the 1st url is unavailable.

http://stophanoikerry.150m.com/




5 posted on 11/05/2004 7:50:42 PM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (Hanoi Kerry lied in 1971 and still lies today! But hey, I'm just a "war criminal")
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To: RogerWilko
software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct

16 bit signed int

6 posted on 11/05/2004 7:51:12 PM PST by Chesterbelloc
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To: RogerWilko

Hmmmmn.

And just what party are these professional politicians (who want to run our health care and reirement) a member of?


7 posted on 11/05/2004 7:51:14 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but Kerry's ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: RogerWilko

DUmmies . nuff said.


8 posted on 11/05/2004 7:51:17 PM PST by nuconvert (Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.)
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To: RogerWilko

They're really grasping, aren't they?


9 posted on 11/05/2004 7:51:18 PM PST by digger48
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To: RogerWilko

There must be some Republican in the County that they can blame.


10 posted on 11/05/2004 7:51:24 PM PST by SmithL (Do I seem like I'm gloating?)
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To: RogerWilko

32,000 voters in a PRECINCT? Whaaaa!

Just a bunch of lazy election workers not doing their jobs.

Disenfranchised...by Democrats.


11 posted on 11/05/2004 7:51:45 PM PST by plangent
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To: RogerWilko

Should have used Diebold.

It's like the problems they had last time. Elect a Democratic election supervisor, and you've got to expect trouble.


12 posted on 11/05/2004 7:51:58 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: RogerWilko

Broward 100.0% 243,699 452,360

Total 3,953,890 3,572,938

Even if they gave all of the 243,699 votes that Bush received in Broward county to Kerry (not likely), that doesn't win FL. Sorry, DU'ers, but Kerry did not garner EVERY SINGLE VOTE IN EVERY SINGLE STATE.


13 posted on 11/05/2004 7:52:31 PM PST by ican'tbelieveit
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To: RogerWilko
Officials found the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct.

Who the hell designed this software? MICROSOFT??

14 posted on 11/05/2004 7:52:57 PM PST by Prime Choice (The Democrats vowed 'no surrender.' It's time to make them wish they had.)
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To: Chesterbelloc

they need a better test suite


15 posted on 11/05/2004 7:53:14 PM PST by Fitzcarraldo
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To: RogerWilko

Another Democratic county in Flori-DUH that can't seem to run an election.


16 posted on 11/05/2004 7:53:52 PM PST by kezekiel
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To: RogerWilko

I remember watching PA count election night and as Kerry lead began to narrow from 400k to 300k to 100k, all of a sudden votes were actually subtracted from Bush. The Dems really would be wise not to go here. If JD got involved, I suspect Rendell, Richardson, et al would have a lot of splainin to do. Anyone compiled a list of all Dem voter fraud through ACORN, ACT, NAACP, etc.? The number of assualts by dems on bush supporters(physical intimidation, property damage, vehicle and RNC office vandalism? I would like to know the number of them that will actually be prosecuted.


17 posted on 11/05/2004 7:56:12 PM PST by stopillegalimmigration
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To: RogerWilko
Half those DUmmies appear to be public school teachers. It's sickening to realize that America's kids are being taught by people with literally zero reading comprehensive ability or common sense.

My decision to home school has never seemed better.
18 posted on 11/05/2004 7:56:13 PM PST by KingKongCobra
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
I sent this e-mail to swiftvets.com

Please tell me that the push to get documented proof of Kerry's record does not end with his defeat. The tone of his concession speech tells me that he still is thinking he is right and everyone else is wrong. The main stream media also needs to learn a lesson, the taunted their bias and dared us to do something about it. Steve Tillesen San Diego Vietnam era veteran
19 posted on 11/05/2004 7:59:01 PM PST by Foolsgold (dumped daschel he he he he)
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To: RogerWilko
If I were Broward County, I would keep my mouth shut. How stupid are these people anyway? Or do they do this on purpose? Is this one of those, "if there are no voting irregularities, make them up" things? Surely they are not really this incompetent?
20 posted on 11/05/2004 7:59:39 PM PST by ladyinred (Congratulations President Bush! Four more years!)
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