Posted on 10/17/2002 8:17:24 AM PDT by FlaFreedom
18 new voting machines go missing in Broward
By Buddy Nevins and Scott Wyman Staff Writers Posted October 17 2002
The Broward County elections office is missing 18 new touch-screen voting machines worth $3,000 each because of poor record-keeping before the flawed Sept. 10 primary, the new elections chief said on Wednesday.
"We don't know where they are. I don't think anyone does at this point," said Joseph Cotter, who was hired to fix the problems highlighted by the chaotic primary.
The missing machines were not used in the election. They were part of Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant's outreach program and presumably were used to educate voters on how to cast ballots on the ATM-like devices.
But Oliphant had no system to track the machines, Cotter said.
"This is very serious," Cotter said. "This is $54,000 in taxpayers' money that we can't find. ... No records, or very inadequate records, were apparently maintained of who took the machines from the warehouse and where they were going."
County commissioners, already reeling from the elections office's budget deficit and the missteps surrounding the primary, were disturbed to hear about the latest problem. They paid $17.2 million for the machinery last winter to replace the old punch-card ballots and said they would hold Oliphant accountable for the lost equipment.
"Every day there is another surprise," Commissioner Kristin Jacobs said. "I just look forward for this election to be over so we can regroup and start fresh. This is absolutely numbing by now. It's unbelievable that there were no systems in place to track where the machines were."
Cotter predicted the machines would be found "in somebody's trunk or someplace's closet."
The touch-screen machines were handled more loosely than the booths used for the old punch-card ballots. Cotter said he could not remember losing one of the booths in the two decades he worked for Oliphant's predecessor, Jane Carroll.
The machines will be tracked more carefully in the Nov. 5 general election, Cotter said. County workers will pick them up immediately after polls close and deliver them to the election warehouse.
Officials for the county and Election Systems & Software, the machines' manufacturer, said the machines would be of little value to anyone who finds them.
Each machine consists mainly of the touch screen and three small hard drives used to store votes. Most of the technology involved is kept on separate hand-held activation devices.
Because their value is largely limited to voting, Cotter thinks the machines have been misplaced.
"This simply appears to be adequate asset controls not being in place," he said.
Officials doubt the lost machines will have any effect on the November election. The county bought 5,040 machines. In addition, ES&S loaned 250 more for training and will have another 320 on standby on Election Day.
Cotter ordered an inventory of the machines, using their bar codes, shortly after he was hired.
The inventory released on Wednesday found that Oliphant's office kept spotty records of what events the consultants visited or how many machines they used. Cotter said he has assigned a staff member to identify the places where outreach programs took place and contact them to see if the machines are there.
Oliphant's office faced criticism even before the audit for its nonchalant treatment of the machines. Four days before the election, a maitre d' driving to work found three of them lying in the middle of Prospect Road.
Dozens of machines were left at polling places -- in clubhouses, churches, schools and community halls -- long after the election. Oliphant's staffers said they weren't concerned even as people were calling the office to ask why the equipment was still around two weeks after the election.
The last machines left at polling places were recovered in late September. Five were discovered at a fire station at Oakland Park Boulevard and the Intracoastal.
As for machines used for voter outreach, two were left at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel until the paper informed the elections office three weeks ago.
The outreach program, paid for in part by a $603,429 state grant, also has been controversial. Oliphant has been criticized for using it to give thousands of dollars in public money to her political allies.
Outside consultants, many of them friends of Oliphant, were hired to demonstrate the machines to civic clubs and condominium groups, and at fairs and other public events.
Commissioners said they want the elections office to pay for the missing machines or find some other way to recoup the cost through insurance claims.
"It's very sloppy management," Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger said. "This is taxpayer dollars being wasted, and I'm just appalled."
Buddy Nevins can be reached at bnevins@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4571.
Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Bingo. Sounds like this is the political equivalent of industrial espionage.
Did you check the car trunk of the local DNC chapter chairman?
Actually, they will show up the day after the election -- so that their votes may be tabulated during the recount process.
Well this election is big for the RATS .. but the 2004 election is even bigger
It's all about regaining power and the RATS will stop at nothing to get it
or three days after the election...for the rererecount until they get the numbers they need.
Of course this is. They are useless for resale if this is a custom designed system. This is similar to slot machines being sold to wannabee casino cheats for dissasembly (as does happen). I wonder if the central vote tabulation software is sophisticated enough to identify the machine, serial number, firmware/software versions, etc. Somehow I doubt it.
Somewhere, somebody is probably "improving" the tabulation software with the coded equivalent of the following: if Rebub_votes > DemoRat_votes then DemoRat_votes * 1.5 = DemoRat_votes or something similar.
Cotter ordered an inventory of the machines, using their bar codes, shortly after he was hired.
They know which machines are missing. If they turn up on election night, and others disappear, the places where they turn up will be suspect.
If Florida dems are paying attention to the fraud investigation going on in South Dakota, they may not want to deal with swapping machines. If they're not paying attention, let's pray the FBI is.
Question number two? What body of water did they go to? Okeechobee, the Atlantic, the Gulf or maybe in the Hillsborough River by McLawyer's humble home.
We want integrity and I'm sick of them manipulating our seniors. STAMP OUT VOTER FRAUD.
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