BBV: More than one ballot may go to some voters

[Andy_Stephenson]

Election officials said some 3,500 King County voters may have received multiple absentee ballots at the same address last week.

In a message posted yesterday on the county elections office Web site, voters were advised to return only one ballot and throw away the duplicates. The Web site also said the county's elections system will track incoming ballots to ensure that only one ballot per voter will be counted.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002065970_dige18m.html
___________

After talking with an expert in the King county system...the explanation Dean Logan gives...we have determined is in all likelyhood a falsehood.


edit to add link

[ParanoidPat]

1. Another 1015 in San Diego

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/9950851.htm?1c

Posted on Mon, Oct. 18, 2004

California election news briefs

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO - More than 1,000 county voters who received duplicate absentee ballot packets have been told to destroy one, according to election officials who said security measures will prevent any attempts at double-voting.

Errors by workers at the county Registrar of Voters Office caused 1,015 voters to each receive two absentee ballot packets.

Alex Martinez, the registrar's deputy chief administrative officer, said the county has telephoned the voters to tell them to destroy one of the packets. If a voter returns both packets, a bar code on the ballot envelope will alert election workers to the duplicate packet.

<More>

[Andy_Stephenson]

2. who prints San Diego's Ballots Pat?

Do you know?

[Andy_Stephenson]

3. Answer...

Diebold Everett.

[harmonyguy]

5. Weren't San Diego's done by whasisname in Fresno?

Or was that another county's screw-up?

I recall posting something about that one a week or two back.
HG

[Andy_Stephenson]

6. I called a source locally

and they were done here.

Looks like King County is covering up Diebolds screw up.

In King county a conservative estimate of the cost of this screw up is 10k.

[harmonyguy]

7. Found it. !!

The number of San Diego County voters who have received the wrong absentee ballots because of a printing company's error has increased to eight, a county spokesman said yesterday.
(snip)
The problem, which was tracked to a ballot-printing company in Fresno, could affect 7,400 absentee ballots, but county officials believe the problem is smaller.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20041012-9999-1m12absentee.html

I believe that the outfit in Fresno acts as a subcontractor for DESI-Everett so that California ballots can be printed in California. Something from an early contract I saw sticks in my mind - something to do with California preference.

Hey, maybe they split it and each did some.

HG

[claudiajean]

8. The Fresno outfit is a sub-contractor of Diebold's printing plant in...

...Everett, Washington.

[ParanoidPat]

4. Funny you should ask.....

.....I was just trying to find out. LOL! :evilgrin:

[claudiajean]

9. New on the ten o'clock news...no ovals on some Diebold ballots

...in King County, Washington.

You know, you color in the ovals to mark your vote.

The election office is telling voters to just circle their choices if they received a ballot with no ovals.

Only one problem with this: The ovals are a mechanism to get the voter to mark across the mark-sense area across the center of the oval to tabulate their vote. (Other brand ballots use the connect-the-arrow mechanism.)

If the voter "circles" the preferred candidate, no mark is made across the mark-sense area, and no vote will be recorded.

No, the election office will say that they "inspect" all of the incoming absentee ballots, and would "enhance" marks on no-oval ballots, BUT!

You and I both know that they are going to be slammed with returned ballot volume three times of their normal volume. With the bang-up job they have been doing on voter registration (they are six weeks behind with data-entry), you can imagine how closely these are going to be inspected.

[Andy_Stephenson]

11. Well...

it looks like this election is shaping up to be a real clusterf*&^ in King County.

Thanks fop the heads up CJ.

[harmonyguy]

12. Hmmm. I'd sure like to see one of those ballots.....

...and check it for pre-printed infrared-absorbing ink.
:tinfoilhat:

(Don't worry, I haven't lost it completely......yet!)
HG

[Andy_Stephenson]

13. Funny you should say that...re. infrared ink

I was talking about that last night with a friend. They mentioned the very same issue. Albeit in a different context.

[harmonyguy]

14. Studied it extensively earlier this year.

Depending on the model and age of the Scanner in question, it will respond to certain types of reflected light. In the earlier Accuvote scanners for example, they used an infrared light with an infrared sensor, and were referred to as Accuvote OS(IR) while later models used visible light and were referred to as Accuvote OS(VL). Some counties upgraded (for a BIG price) while others just sold off their units to other counties.

Regardless of which light source is used, the unit only 'sees' certain colors of light, which is why it's important to use the proper writing utensil, when filling in the oval. Suffice it to say that it's truly amazing what they're doing with the new inks in the security printing business these days.;-)

I won't go into detail here, but I am a firm believer that recounts of optically scanned ballots MUST be done by hand. None of this rescanning nonsense that some call a recount. I want to see where the VOTER put THEIR mark, and use THAT to determine intent, rather than accepting what the machine interpreted to be intent. Machine interpretation can be, shall we say, influenced by many things that are not visible to the naked eye.

HG

[Andy_Stephenson]

15. kick

:kick"

[claudiajean]

10. kick n/t

[RedEagle]

16. Kick and confirmation re: invisible ink

I talked to a local printing shop and it's not that uncommon.

Other, legitimate uses for it.

And if a little, podunk shop out in the boonies is up on the technology.....

[harmonyguy]

17. Confirmation is a good thing.

I'm always glad when someone else can independently backup one of my pet peeves.

HG;-)