Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
Two elections so far this year and Cuyahoga Co Ohio is 0-2 in successful recounts. Both recounts were in small municipal elections and in both cases the recounted voter verified paper trail (vvpat) votes failed to match the official machine results. Why? Mistakes in counting? Not according to the county. The problem is that the vvpats are at times difficult and sometimes impossible to read. These vvpats along with audits of those vvpat ballots are supposed to be an acceptable solution to the problems with DREs. Cuyahoga Co is now concerned that they may have a close county-wide race that will require many days of trying to decipher what is on the vvpat tapes. Remember that in Ohio the vvpat is the vote of record in an audit so any damaged or unreadable ballots may be lost ballots and they could affect the results of an election. This, again, is proof that adding a vvpat printer to a DRE is like adding a seat belt to a Pinto. Let's "Rage Against The Machines" and recall them all....
NAtional: Diebold/Premier Admits Memory Card Failure On Popular Optical-Scan Voting Machines
With Elections Impending Next Week, Company Downplays, Hides Failure Rate LINK
NAtional: TIME: The 'Stampede Away from Touch-Screen' LINK
CA: Monterey County - Pushing paper ballot envelope
Electronics will be used only for counting LINK
CT: Longing For The Certainty Of Levers, Curtain LINK
FL: Sarasota County - Voting group plans to appeal ruling Appeals court struck down extra audits; state Supreme Court is next LINK
FL: Dent said complaint has no merit LINK
IN: Marion County - No replay of primary, officials say
Election staff says plan is in place to ensure polls run smoothly LINK
OH: Activists mourn 2004 election, Democracy LINK
OH: Cuyahoga County 0-for-2 in recounts
Run-up to election gives officials pause LINK
OH: Cuyahoga County - Recount procedures, paper jams worry Cuyahoga elections officials LINK
PA: Bradford County - Election officials provide voting tips LINK
PA: Lackawanna County - A step-by-step look at voting on paper ballots LINK
TX: State voter database working better LINK
VA: Voting problems mostly corrected LINK
VA: Botetourt County voters to get write-in help
Voting involves typing the candidates' names using a touch-screen keypad. LINK
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