Drudge Siren: TOUCH SCREEN CONFUSION

Drudge ^ | 11/05/02 | Drudge

[TheConservator]

Systematic problem statewide in Georgia confirmed: When placing vote, and touching the screen for a Republican candidate, the box is incorrectly checked for the Democrat candidate. Another similar situation is occurring when the review screen comes up and previously marked Republican votes are showing as Democrat votes... is happening in lots of different races. Officials fixing problems as they arise when made aware of them... Developing...

[Tiger6]

Just returned from voting here in Marietta. This happened to my wife, but it was because she touched near the line between the candidates. If you don't touch in the middle of the area, it can happen. She saw what happened, and touched the Republican again, and it came up correctly.

[metesky]

Paper ballots with onsite counts by equal representation from both parties.

It doesn't matter that the results would be delayed a few hours, it's the only way to keep things halfway honest.

[KSApplePie_two]

LOL :)

[Arkinsaw]

I believe that ALL voters should be given a receipt that shows who they voted for.

That receipt would allow you to prove who you voted for to any rule-breaking political party that wanted to pay you for the "correct" vote.

[norton]

"Perhaps they should "test" the machines prior to election day to make sure they work properly, SHEESH."

You're missing the point, they DID test and they ARE working properly - it was changing Rep votes to Dem wasn't it?

[mhking]

I would like to know Drudge's source(s).

I know of one woman that called into Neil Boortz's show to complain of this problem in the 9:00 hour, but I have not heard of any other "widespread" problems. I certainly didn't have any problems when I voted this morning.

Unless Drudge can come up with some solid sources for this, I'd chalk it up to more of his tin foiliage.

[Hanging Chad]

I can report in on behalf of my wife.
She experienced this problem while voting this morning,
and she believes it is caused by her long fingernails.

The finger touches the screen in one place,
while the fingernail touches the screen in another place.
She managed to catch and correct her errors on "review".

Perhaps we ahould round-up all of those confiscated
nail-clippers forom all of the airports and rush them
over to the polling places !!!

[LoneGOPinCT]

TOUCH SCREEN CONFUSION

This is the VERY reason the democRATs are pushing for touch-screen voting under the guise of election reform. No paper trail or no mechanical indication/tally of vote (or their "intent") WHATSOEVER! Makes their job much easier.

[shadowman99]

Who's bright idea was it that there should be no paper record of the vote?

[r9etb]

Doesn't have to be fraud; rather, it could be a problem matching the touch screen inputs to the proper candidate -- it'd be a county-by-county sort problem. The old "off-by-one" problem could show up as this.

More than anything else, it suggests that there was inadequate testing of the electronic ballot assignments.

[dennisw]

Dems are laying the groundwork for their post election lawsuits. RAT lawyers are in full salivation mode.

[mhking]

I believe that ALL voters should be given a receipt that shows who they voted for.

I like that idea. It gives a double check/balance to the electronic system.

[norton]

"It doesn't do you any good to worry and your concerns are probably unfounded."

Hope we can say that after the election.

[WorldWatcher1]

Touch screens are notoriously inaccurate. I think they are a mistake.

If the person using it accidentally touches another part of the screen at the same time the are selecting, it will misread. Or if they set something on it.

The Texas computers use a dial device to select an entry and an enter button to mark it. It seems much more reliable than a touch screen.

[Frapster]

darn straight - the device should print out a receipt showing you who you voted for. Amazing that they don't do it - I wonder what rational they use to justify not doing it?

[mhking]

Why can't we have a paper-trail and why shouldn't I be able to connect to the GA state website and see who I voted for?

I agree on the paper trail, but I've got a major problem with being able to go onto the web to see who I voted for. I don't think the security is in place to handle that as of yet.

In addition, I'm pretty sure that the transmission of the current data is separate from the 'net - which is what keeps it secure.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Well ultimately the blame goes to those dolts who decided to go with computer voting. Both parties made the mistake, Dems in FL & GA, GOP in Texas.

If this is widespread in GA, FL, & TX, it could be the Dem strategy. The few early screwups against the Dems in TX & FL may have been intentionally done in Dem precincts to provide cover for their typical "both sides are doing it" argument to cover massive fraud in swing states such as GA.

I heard the Dallas County election commissioner speak of the TX problems on the radio yesterday. When asked if it was happening primarily in precincts with Democrat election judges, he said the instances were scattered throughout Dallas County, but would not directly answer the question. In Dallas, the election judge for each precinct is assigned by the party that won the precinct in the last election.


But still too early to tell if this is fraud, random error, or simply new system glitches.

[Mo1]

This is the VERY reason the democRATs are pushing for touch-screen voting under the guise of election reform

Doesn't surpise me

BTW .. did they ever find those 18 missing voting machines??

[mitchbert]

While I would put nothing past the RATS when it comes to vote fraud, this really sounds like a result of sloppy set up and testing of the machines. Touch panels (think your Palm Pilot) normally have to be calibrated when booted for the first time so they "know" where the user's finger (or in the case of a PDA the stylus) is making contact with the screen. The point of touch is then made to line up with the application display you see on the screen. If the software doesn't know where the center of the screen is it may very well insert a "drift" between where you touch and what part of the application (vote checkbox in this case) records the input.

Could be deliberate but I lean towards bad set up, likely by people that have no idea what they're doing with the technology. If the workers are able to "address the problem as it occurs" this would lead me to believe they're actually resetting the screen calibration. Just a guess.

[Reelect President Dubya]

There are so many ways to commit election fraud with a computer, it makes hanging chads look like slackers.