http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/michigan-electi.html
That is, the totals shifted nearly 4% of one candidates 1170 votes to
his opponent: that reduced the margin of victory in that township by
8%!! (a very uncomfortable error)
It was both ironic and especially disconcerting since that the race in
question was for the township's clerk and the winning candidate was
the Deputy Clerk.
Note that this is one township. And also note that the L&A tests were
off in 4% of the communities running the L&A tests. It does not
report how many machines in each community failes, but if follows the
common pattern their probably is 1 or at most 2 machines in a typical
precinct. So the impact on statewide raises is presumably somewhat
damped over the impact on local races but is still absurdly large.
Conversely, the problem is attributed to dust buildup blocking the
sensors and possibly interfering with the electronics. The concern is
that the next election is going to dwarf the past one in the amount of
dust generated.
"In Oakland county when officials there met with ES&S to discuss the
errors encountered during logic and accuracy testing, ES&S maintained
that the problem was dust and debris build-up on the sensors inside
the machines.
"This has impacted the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) settings for
the two Contact Image Sensors (CIS)," Johnson wrote the EAC."
Now presumbaly, a lot of the dust comes from the kind of ballot stock
used so we don't know if this will occur nationwide. But since these
are spec-ed by ES&S it's plausible that this will be ubiquitous.
Like NM, Michigan also is forbidden from doing their own "cleaning" by
ES&S on pain of voiding the warrantee (and possibly the
certification).
I have advocated before that NM urgently needs to get a larger IT
staff in the SOS office to get this situation under control. NM needs
to have a credible staffing level in part to give it leverage to
renegotiate these maintenance contracts that are bankrupting the
clerks, or causing them not to maintain machines.
Charlie
That is, the totals shifted nearly 4% of one candidates 1170 votes to
his opponent: that reduced the margin of victory in that township by
8%!! (a very uncomfortable error)
It was both ironic and especially disconcerting since that the race in
question was for the township's clerk and the winning candidate was
the Deputy Clerk.
Note that this is one township. And also note that the L&A tests were
off in 4% of the communities running the L&A tests. It does not
report how many machines in each community failes, but if follows the
common pattern their probably is 1 or at most 2 machines in a typical
precinct. So the impact on statewide raises is presumably somewhat
damped over the impact on local races but is still absurdly large.
sensors and possibly interfering with the electronics. The concern is
that the next election is going to dwarf the past one in the amount of
dust generated.
"In Oakland county when officials there met with ES&S to discuss the
errors encountered during logic and accuracy testing, ES&S maintained
that the problem was dust and debris build-up on the sensors inside
the machines.
"This has impacted the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) settings for
the two Contact Image Sensors (CIS)," Johnson wrote the EAC."
Now presumbaly, a lot of the dust comes from the kind of ballot stock
used so we don't know if this will occur nationwide. But since these
are spec-ed by ES&S it's plausible that this will be ubiquitous.
Like NM, Michigan also is forbidden from doing their own "cleaning" by
ES&S on pain of voiding the warrantee (and possibly the
certification).
I have advocated before that NM urgently needs to get a larger IT
staff in the SOS office to get this situation under control. NM needs
to have a credible staffing level in part to give it leverage to
renegotiate these maintenance contracts that are bankrupting the
clerks, or causing them not to maintain machines.
Charlie
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
