Posted on 12/18/2007 5:11:50 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts
Colorado's top election official decertified electronic voting machines used in many of the state's largest counties Monday, calling into question equipment used in past elections in a move he said could have national implications.
Electronic voting machines used in Denver, Arapahoe, Pueblo, Mesa and Elbert counties cannot be used in the next election because of problems with accuracy or security, Secretary of State Mike Coffman said.
A number of electronic scanners used to count ballots were also decertified, including a type used by Boulder County as well as more than three dozen small to mid-size counties around the state.
His decision affects six of Colorado's 10 most populous counties and three of the four equipment manufacturers allowed in the state.
The manufacturers have 30 days to appeal.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I agree. It is prone to fraud on both sides. Old-fashioned paper ballots should be preserved.
That’s interesting you should say that - in most places the absentee ballots are generally very conservative and Republican majority.
In Florida and Washington the absentee ballots weren’t counted in the final tally because they hadn’t been sent out on time. By and large those were to FPO and APO addresses and the ballots weren’t returned in time to be counted. The counties concerned were Democrat controlled.
Why would you conclude that???
Texas has a great system if you’ve ever worked an election with them...The recent investigations that concluded any suspected fraud with these machines have been adressed and I am many others do our best to make our system work for the voters...
I don’t know what system the state of Colorado uses, but Texas has the ESlate system by Diebold if I recall correctly...
We are trained and versed in how to work the machines and basic trouble-shooting, and have a floating technician that goes around several different polls in the area to cover any problems which have been extremely few and far between...
Harris County alone has been a case study (nationwide) to how well the systems work...
I for one, like how it has cut our evening closout procedures almost by 75% in how long it takes to get the info to the return locations on election night...
Paper punch ballots of old blew chunks as far as I can remember...
And this is not because I am an technology freak, I just like how well it has worked when you get everyone from the top to the bottom working together and training on the system once every election cycle...Those of us who have done it a few times get to have an abbreviated 30 minute session to re-qualify on it...
So all in all it depends on those at the top top get the right system in play, and work the system to support the voters, not the other way around...
When the voters get comfortable with it, and people stop yelling fire in the crowded theater...Thats when this all settles down...
Those that do mess with the machines and try to jimmy up the works...They eventually get caught and taken care of...No one keeps secrets like that long in things like this...
Simple. I work with computer systems everyday and have been doing so for almost 30 years. Both simple and very complex systems. I know beyond any doubt that when you introduce an electronic system into any process, you are introducing multiple points of failure. And multiple points where human interaction is possible.
Human nature being what it is, this is unacceptable. Do some research and take a look at what took place in Ohio with the Diebold systems. The GEMS central tabulator software used to tabulate all the results from all the electronic voting machines is easily hacked and the results are easily manipulated. I have no faith in any software used to tabulate our votes.
I'm sure that you have confidence in the electronic systems used by Texas but convenience should not be a factor in anyone's decision process when trying to come up with a secure voting system. Ask yourself, 'why were electronic voting systems introduced and why were those at the top pushing so hard to get these systems in play as fast as possible?'.
At the first scent of any inherent insecurity in the system, the whole thing should be thrown on the trash heap. The stakes are too high. Much too high.
ping
Well obviously the people who stood to gain by introducing the electronic/computer machines into the process were going to make money hand over foot...
I never fault someone who wants to make money...
I absolutely understnad the risks associated with introducing the potential failures by these machines and the software used to run and tabulate the results...To be brutally honest I have seen some funny things on election day with how they performed...
But at the end of the day when I get to keep a personal copy of that tally sheet, it really looks like they perform just fine...
The physical security for the JBC units in place now stipulate that we (Election Judges) are not even allowed to bring the JBC units to the polls till election day...
They did this because of the “hacking” they found out could be done on the DeiBold system...
We knew you could reset the JBC’s when the training folks could come by before you completely stow them back in the boxes, would come by and hook up a laptop and reset the “public count” on them...So yes I believe it can be done, but I believe its harder to do when the polls are open, and any irregularities that come out of the tabulating and voting review process will come out in the wash anyway...
So whether you still use the old paper punch ballots or these eSlate machines...I believe there will always be about the same amount of attempts at voting fraud between the two systems...
Thats just the way I see it...I haven’t had a voter in mine or any other precincts I know about been too vocal about the apparent disengenuous nature of the computer systems we use in our area...If there were, I would probably not be running a polling location every year...
Isn't that the Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #103? =;^)
9 tenths of the law or something...;-)
</sarcasm>
I agree that absentee ballots may trend Republican since you have to plan ahead to request them. The mail ballots automatically get sent to the address of every registered voter and get mailed back for tabulation without any ID checks. You can imagine what kind of “community organization” could be done to get 100% voter participation in the projects.
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