E-Voting Problems Crop Up

[shraby]

(snip)

In Philadelphia, rumors spread quickly that electronic voting machines were showing vote totals before the start of counting on Tuesday, prompting state Republican party officials to cry foul and threaten litigation. According to Kenneth Rapp, deputy secretary for regulatory programs for Pennsylvania, those reports were false: Observers had misinterpreted an odometer-style vote counter that records all votes cast on each machine and is not reset for each election, Rapp said.

(more)
<http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118431,00.asp>

(This is from Nov. 2, 2004. I have a question. If the machine is not reset, how can they know what the total for this election is?)
Here's more..improperly formatted???:

Also in Louisiana, problems arose with Election Systems & Software (ES&S) IVotronic machines after officials improperly formatted ballots so that systems labeled nonprovisional ballots as provisional, and vice versa, Madere said. Provisional ballots are being given to voters whose registration is found to be in doubt when they go to vote.

The formatting problem will not affect how votes were recorded, and poll workers were instructed to tell voters to fill out the ballots as-is. Election officials will be able to discern the difference between the two groups because there will be far fewer provisional ballots, Madere said.

[mikeylove]

1. I could be wrong, but...

I'm pretty sure that what they mean is that the counter isn't used for purposes other than knowing how many total votes the machine has recorded in its lifetime. You also find these kinds of counters on gas pumps and copy machines (and car odometers, for that matter).

Whether they're lying or not, I can't say though. :)

[newyawker99]

2. Hi mikeylove!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Boredtodeath]

3. There are 2 counters on each machine

A public counter (which is reset for each election) and a private counter which records a running total.