FLORIDUH TO BE FLORIDA - OFFICIALLY KICKING OUT TOUCHSCREENS

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Florida kicking out touchscreens, going to optical scan and
assistive devices for disabled.

Congrats to Florida activists for all of their hard work,
and applause to Gov Crist for doing the right thing.

GOVERNOR CRIST APPLAUDS LEGISLATURE FOR BOLDLY REFORMING FLORIDA’S ELECTIONS
May 3, 2007
Contact:
ERIN ISAAC
[phone]

TALLAHASSEE – Governor Charlie Crist today congratulated the Florida Legislature
for passing legislation that will replace touch-screen voting machines with optical scan machines
statewide for Election Day voting and early voting sites. He also praised the Legislature for
changing the date of Florida’s presidential primary to an earlier date – the last Tuesday in January.

“The right to vote is the foundation of our nation’s democracy, and Florida voters can rest assured
that they will have an election system they can believe in,”

Governor Crist said. “With an earlier presidential primary, Florida will now take its rightful place
near the front of the line in determining the next leader of the free world.”

Touch-screen machines will still be used to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
“This is an outstanding bipartisan achievement by Governor Crist and the Florida Legislature,”
said U.S. Representative Robert Wexler. “The citizens of Florida have long demanded an election
system guaranteeing that every vote is counted. Today the Governor delivered a paper trail, and
Florida now stands as a model for the nation.”

“This legislation will preserve the integrity of Florida’s elections and protect every Floridian’s
right to have his or her vote counted,” Governor Crist said. “Florida voters will be able to
have more confidence in the voting process and the reliability of Florida’s elections.
I appreciate the work of the House and Senate for passing legislation that will establish
a paper trail for votes cast in Florida elections and ensure that Florida continues
to lead the way in election reform.” http://www.flgov.com/release/8957

Note - I am told that the only machines that might have a touch-screen interface would
be the electronic ballot marking devices, but no more DREs

[bertha katzenengel]

1. Is this from The Onion?

. . . but i'm not skeptical - nor even cynical

[madfloridian]

2. Something new someone needs to investigate....

It is called ballot-on-demand. A lot of supervisors here are upset about it....and I don't understand enough to figure it out.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070501/NEWS/705010372&SearchID=73279884705980

Ballot Change Worries Supervisors

"TALLAHASSEE - The next evolution in Florida's ever-changing system of voting will feature something called "ballot on demand."

A citizen at any early voting site would receive a custom optical scan ballot, matching the voter's residence, language and party affiliation. A voter's choices would be marked on an optical scan ballot by filling in an oval next to each ballot question.

"The benefits of the ballot-on-demand system, from an election management standpoint, are numerous," Gov. Charlie Crist told a congressional committee on March 23.

But the change worries a lot of local election supervisors, who run Florida elections.

They warn that it's risky to implement an untried system in Florida in a closely watched and high-turnout 2008 presidential election."

[bullimiami]

3. since optical scanning also involves very questionable computers I will defer my opinion

until i see if the new law reinstates the paper ballots and manual counting as the ultimate authority.

jeb contrived in a law to make it illegal to go to the paper ballots which needed to be overturned.

[eomer]

10. From what I understand, the new law doesn't address that problem.

Here's the part of the new bill that relates to the machine recount (which reads the same as the corresponding part of section 102.141 of existing law):

23         (7)(6)  If the unofficial returns reflect that a
24  candidate for any office was defeated or eliminated by
25  one-half of a percent or less of the votes cast for such
26  office, that a candidate for retention to a judicial office
27  was retained or not retained by one-half of a percent or less
28  of the votes cast on the question of retention, or that a
29  measure appearing on the ballot was approved or rejected by
30  one-half of a percent or less of the votes cast on such
31  measure, the board responsible for certifying the results of
                                  41
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    Florida Senate - 2007                        SENATOR AMENDMENT
    Bill No. CS/HB 537, 1st Eng.
                        Barcode 952548
 1  the vote on such race or measure shall order a recount of the
 2  votes cast with respect to such office or measure. The
 3  Elections Canvassing Commission is the board responsible for
 4  ordering federal, state, and multicounty recounts. A recount
 5  need not be ordered with respect to the returns for any
 6  office, however, if the candidate or candidates defeated or
 7  eliminated from contention for such office by one-half of a
 8  percent or less of the votes cast for such office request in
 9  writing that a recount not be made.
10         (a)  Each canvassing board responsible for conducting a
11  recount shall put each marksense ballot through automatic
12  tabulating equipment and determine whether the returns
13  correctly reflect the votes cast. If any marksense ballot is
14  physically damaged so that it cannot be properly counted by
15  the automatic tabulating equipment during the recount, a true
16  duplicate shall be made of the damaged ballot pursuant to the
17  procedures in s. 101.5614(5). Immediately before the start of
18  the recount, a test of the tabulating equipment shall be
19  conducted as provided in s. 101.5612. If the test indicates no
20  error, the recount tabulation of the ballots cast shall be
21  presumed correct and such votes shall be canvassed
22  accordingly. If an error is detected, the cause therefor shall
23  be ascertained and corrected and the recount repeated, as
24  necessary. The canvassing board shall immediately report the
25  error, along with the cause of the error and the corrective
26  measures being taken, to the Department of State. No later
27  than 11 days after the election, the canvassing board shall
28  file a separate incident report with the Department of State,
29  detailing the resolution of the matter and identifying any
30  measures that will avoid a future recurrence of the error.

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=952548.html&DocumentType=Amendments&BillNumber=0537&Session=2007

If (and only if) the results after the machine recount are within 1/4 of a percent then there is a manual recount but of only undervotes and overvotes.

Here's section 102.166 of existing law that talks about the manual recount:

(1) If the second set of unofficial returns pursuant to s. 102.141 indicates that a candidate for any office was defeated or eliminated by one-quarter of a percent or less of the votes cast for such office, that a candidate for retention to a judicial office was retained or not retained by one-quarter of a percent or less of the votes cast on the question of retention, or that a measure appearing on the ballot was approved or rejected by one-quarter of a percent or less of the votes cast on such measure, the board responsible for certifying the results of the vote on such race or measure shall order a manual recount of the overvotes and undervotes cast in the entire geographic jurisdiction of such office or ballot measure. A manual recount may not be ordered, however, if the number of overvotes, undervotes, and provisional ballots is fewer than the number of votes needed to change the outcome of the election.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0102/SEC166.HTM&Title=-%3E2006-%3ECh0102-%3ESection%20166#0102.166

The new bill makes only a technical (renumbering) change to section 102.166:

29         Section 34.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (5) of section
30  102.166, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
31         102.166  Manual recounts.--
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    Florida Senate - 2007                        SENATOR AMENDMENT
    Bill No. CS/HB 537, 1st Eng.
                        Barcode 952548
 1         (5)  Procedures for a manual recount are as follows:
 2         (b)  Each duplicate ballot prepared pursuant to s.
 3  101.5614(5) or s. 102.141(7) s. 102.141(6) shall be compared
 4  with the original ballot to ensure the correctness of the
 5  duplicate.

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=952548.html&DocumentType=Amendments&BillNumber=0537&Session=2007

[glengarry]

11. BushCo won 57-42% of the vote in FL optiscan counties with 42% Dem- 39% GOP registration

The optiscan ballots are tabulated by central tabulators where the software can easily be programmed to miscount the votes.

So what is the percentage of the ballots that need to be audited?


http://www.geocities.com/electionmodel/TruthIsAllFAQResponse.htm#Florida

They ignored Florida’s implausible vote count by machine type and party registration. In 2000, Bush supposedly “won” by 547 official votes. Given Gore’s 70% share of 180,000 uncounted under/over votes, he would have won by at least 60,000 votes had they been counted. In 2004, Bush supposedly “won” by 52-47%, a 368,000 vote margin. But the Democrats had a 41- 37% registration advantage in Touch Screen (TS) counties and a 42-39% edge in Optical Scan (OS) counties. Kerry won the TS counties (3.86mm votes) by 51-47%, but Bush won the OS counties (3.43mm votes) by a whopping 57-42%. Kerry’s low vote shares in the three most heavily populated (and Democratic) TS counties (Palm Beach, Broward, Dade) are highly suspect. Florida voter registration by party is the same in TS and OS counties, so we aren’t comparing apples and oranges. The TS county vote share matched the 12:22am NEP to within 0.43% for Bush and 0.31% for Kerry. The OS county share deviated by 9.0% for Bush (307,000 votes) while the Kerry discrepancy was -8.1% (278,000).



Two separate models indicated that Kerry won Florida by 221,000 votes. The first was based on voting machine type (optical scanners and touch screens) and used 2004 NEP “How Voted in 2000” vote shares with party registration percentage weights. Kerry won by … 221,000 votes. The second was based on uncounted and switched votes assumptions applied to the 2004 recorded vote. Kerry won by…. 221,000 votes. Assuming that Kerry won 70,000 of 96,000 Nader 2000 votes (based on his 71% NEP share), he had a built-in 100,000 vote advantage on Election Day … assuming all the votes would be counted. The final Zogby pre-election poll had Kerry winning by 50-47%. Assuming a 1.0% margin of error, the probability is 1 in 12.7 trillion that Kerry's total TS county vote share would exceed his total Florida share by 4.2%.

[glengarry]

12. Correction: Should be Party ID vote shares, not Voted 2000

Two separate models indicated that Kerry won Florida by 221,000 votes. The first was based on voting machine type (optical scanners and touch screens) and used 2004 NEP “Party ID” vote shares with party registration percentage weights...


The following analysis is based on 12:22 am NEP Party ID vote shares and total Touchscreen(TS) and Optical Scan (OS) county registration.

Kerry won by 221,000 votes: 141,000 in TS and 80,000 in OS counties.

Party Registration Share... Recorded Vote Share Votes (millions)
Cty Total Democrat Repub Diff.......... Total Kerry Bush Kerry Bush
TS 5.576 40.89% 36.77% 4.12%... 3.864 51.30% 47.77% 1.982 1.846
OS 4.725 41.92% 38.98% 2.94%... 3.420 42.27% 57.03% 1.446 1.950
Total 10.301 41.37% 37.79% 3.58%... 7.284 47.06% 52.12% 3.428 3.796


Calculated Florida Vote Shares

Assumptions:
12:22am NEP PARTY ID vote shares
Party ID FL Registration weights

Result:
Kerry Winning margin: 221,000 votes
141,000 (TS) + 80,000 (OS)

Touch screen counties ... Optical Scanner counties
PartyID Mix Bush Kerry Nader... Mix Bush Kerry Nader
Dem 40.89% 9% 90% 1%... 41.92% 9% 90% 1%
Rep 36.77% 92% 7% 1%... 38.98% 92% 7% 1%
Ind 22.33% 44% 52% 4%... 19.10% 44% 52% 4%

Pct 100% 47.34% 50.99% 1.67%... 100% 48.04% 50.39% 1.57%
Vote 3.864 1.829 1.970 0.065... 3.420 1.643 1.723 0.054

Actual Recorded Vote
Pct 100% 47.77% 51.30% 0.92%... 100% 57.03% 42.27% 0.70%
Vote 3.864 1.846 1.982 0.036... 3.420 1.950 1.446 2.40%

[nykym]

4. Or maybe

Their just worried they won't be able to juggle the results so easily - but I'm sure they will try!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. Facts About Ballot on Demand

Since Florida folks felt that Ballot on Demand (BOD) would be a solution to their early voting problem, I did some research for them. Note that - *You don't have to use the voting machine company's BOD.

Removing Barriers to Voter Verified Paper Ballots
Ballot on Demand to Increase Flexibility of Paper Ballot Voting

April 4, 2007. By Joyce McCloy. Founder, N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting.

Governor Charlie Crist of Florida is pushing to replace touchscreen voting machines with optical scan systems. He proposes to utilize a unique on site ballot printing system to reduce the costs and logistics issues with ballot printing.
Crist said ballot on demand is a ballot producing system that can also be utilized for absentee voting.
"Ballot on demand allows for individual optical scan ballots to be printed when the voter arrives for early voting, thus eliminating the need for touch screens with voter verifiable paper audit trails," Crist said. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006843854

As more states across the country switch to paper ballot voting systems, ballot on demand printers provide a promising solution to reducing expenses and decreasing logistical challenges of getting the right number of the right ballots to the right location. Ballot on demand systems print individual paper ballots at the voting site, as needed. This system could reduce ballot printing expenses and make distributing multiple ballot styles at early voting sites much easier to do.

Since very little is written about “ballot on demand” systems, some research was needed. I called one New Mexico County’s election department that was known to use the system. Additionally, Paul Stokes, a voting advocate from New Mexico provided his research and in person observations. Finally, I contacted the actual vendor who supplies the ballot on demand services for New Mexico jurisdictions.

4/2/07 4:13 PM Eastern, from interview with Melanie Rivera who works at the San Miguel County Elections Office.

Ms. Rivera was very enthusiastic about the use of Ballot on Demand in San Miguel County. She advised that:

New Mexico doesn’t use ES&S' ballot on demand, they use the services of Automated Election Services. Contact information can be found at http://www.electionpeople.com/


How is Ballot on Demand Done?

Per Automated Election Services:

-The ballot on demand is done with computers programmed with all of the different ballot styles.
-HP printers that use toner cartridges are used to print the ballots.
-The counties pay for the use of the laptops, PCs or printers, instead of purchasing them.
-A county with about 10,000 voters per early voting site might need about 4 printers (estimate only)

How San Miguel County New Mexico uses ballot on demand, Per Melanie Rivera of the San Miguel Elections Department:

-San Miguel has about 22,000 registered voters,
-they have 3 early voting sites,
-they keep their early voting sites open about 3 weeks,
-they are required to report precinct data from early voting,
-they have one laptop computer and one HP printer at each early voting site, and
-they have 2 extra laptops at their county office in case one would break down at any early voting site.

Ms. Rivera said that AES' service was always available 24 hours a day and was excellent.

Read on….


Per Paul Stokes, e-voting expert and advocate from New Mexico:

“All New Mexico counties use M100s (ES&S optical scanners) and AutoMARKs

"Our M100s in New Mexico had a new software version to allow for use at
early voting sites. This version can handle enough ballot styles to
take care of our largest county, Bernalillo, with 450 precincts."

At early voting sites using the ballot on demand, Paul advises that:
“The voter signs in, the ballot on demand system records a log of
voters, the ballot for the precinct is printed, the voter goes to a
booth and fills out the ballot, and then on to the opscan.

Bernalillo County, for one, did not use ballot on demand because the programming could not be done in time. According to the provider, Automated Election Services here in New Mexico, 19 of 33 counties leased and used their ballot on demand printer. The largest of these counties was probably Dona Ana, with 105 precincts. This ballot on demand system is a product of Automatic Election Services, and in addition to printing the ballots, it maintains the log of voters and prints an "application" for early voting that is signed by voters at the site. ES&S also has a ballot on demand product.

#

Final notes - AES is based in New Mexico but possibly a similar service could be provided elsewhere.

I know everyone has more questions, so I have requested an information booklet from AES (hope they send it).

For more questions, probably folks can call AES (or other ballot on demand vendors) directly.

Reported by Joyce McCloy - Founder, NC Coalition for Verified Voting, www.ncvoter.net
http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/Ballot_on_Demand_as_Done_in_New_Mexico.pdf

Florida wanted a way to deal with Early Voting, where a polling site has to provide
ballot styles to suit as many as 750 precincts. North Carolina has the same situation of early voting and requirement to report precinct data, but we pre-print all ballots, enough for every registered voter, which means that poll workers have to sort through dozens of ballot styles to provide the right one to people during early voting. We later manually sort the ballots to provide the precinct reporting. The precinct reporting is mostly to satisfy the political consultants and candidates, it doesn't affect the offical election results

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Does that mean back to Butterfly Ballots?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. butterfly ballots occur on punch card ballots

Have you ever voted on punch card? This is what a butterfly ballot is.



Here is an optical scan ballot, which resembles a multiple choice test:



In North Carolina, we shade in the circle by our choice, with a black bic stick pen.
The machines can read other colors of ink, but black is recommended.

[BonnieJW]

6. I just sent this to Tim Kaine

here in Virginia and asked him when we're getting rid of touch screens.

[trashcanistanista]

7. We use optiscan in Calif

It is a major step up from touchscreen and the ballot scanned is paper. Manual counts can be made to verify the optiscan computer count. Good move Florida, all states should dump touchscreens.