Voting Machines: Glitches Prompt GOP Suit Over Fairfax Tabulations (WP)

Voting Machines
Glitches Prompt GOP Suit Over Fairfax Tabulations

By Eric M. Weiss and David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 5, 2003; Page B04


Widespread problems with new touch-screen voting machines delayed election results in Fairfax County last night and led to a legal challenge by Republican officials.

Nine malfunctioning voting machines were removed for repair and then put back in service, a move that Fairfax Republicans said broke election law. Several hundred votes were under scrutiny, not enough to affect the outcome of countywide races.

Fairfax spent $3.5 million on 1,000 WINvote machines this year, part of a wave of new technology being introduced to voting booths in the wake of the Florida ballot-booth drama of the 2000 presidential election. The machines, made by Advanced Voting Solutions of Frisco, Tex., resemble laptop computers without keyboards.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1397-2003Nov5.html

How delicious to see it has two edges. heh heh heh

The issue of tossing out votes needs lots of time in the headlines. When machines malfunction and votes get tossed because of it somebody's rights are getting trampled. If the tossing of the votes continually favors one side, it is more than rights getting violated.

The process went smoothly, the results were talleyed faster at the precinct level.
The problem seemed to be communicating the results to election headquarters. First, there was a problem when everyone tried to transfer the results to a central machine (computer talking to computer) by telephone modem. I don't know if everyone finished faster and tried to access the central computer at the same time or what. Most of the precincts ended up reverting to the method used in previous years, a person talking to a person to transfer the information. I think the county had to scramble people to answer the phones because that job wasn't going to be necessary with the new automation.
It is better to get the problems worked out this year than next year.

The other issue was the Republican party workers. They seemed to be lurking all day with a mad expression. They seemed like they were looking for anything to build into an issue.
The news hasn't mentioned where the nine machines were or what problems they encountered, but the votes on those machines could not have been in significant numbers and can easily be isolated from the rest of the votes. This story says the machines were put back into service, other stories have said they were not put back into service, but returned to the precinct so that the votes they contained could be counted in the precinct tally at the end of the day.

I am wondering about the numbers of machine failures. Were there a total of nine machines that failed during the day or a total of nine that were removed and returned to the precinct?

The Republicans are probably right that legally the machines should have been repaired at the polls, and not removed from the polling place. Repairing them and testing the repair may have been impossible in the polling place. Maybe the removable storage device should have been locked up at the polling place until the machine was returned, that way the votes would have remained at the polls. The votes can be in question, but not the election as the winners are the same with or without those votes.

(on edit to make clear who had the sour faces)

I can't see why they would be complaining otherwise.

On edit: I did read the article, and of course, the losing candidate is the one doing all the whining - A Repuke.

It's time for them to move on. :evilgrin:

...until they get a result they like.

and we should respect their concerns as they should have ours.