That pesky 16-bit bug

Re: more bad data in Franklin County Ohio

Last week we saw the story of the Columbus-area precinct, Gahanna 1B, where Bush was awarded about 4,000 more votes than the number of voters in the precinct.

To date, another serious anomaly in those Franklin County results has gone unexplained.

On page 34 of the unofficial results at http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/boe/04UnofficialResults/Unofficial%20Abstract%20of%20Votes%20General%2004.pdf (warning--large file) there are some entries for absentee ballots which seem inexplicable. For one, the absentee line has been repeated twice, with a minor variation. Moreover, look at the total at the right--supposedly 20,680 absentee ballots were cast. But if all the votes for Congress are added up, I get a total of 37,130.

The BOE software is definitely buggy as we’ve already seen that they didn’t even do simple checks such as with the Gahanna overcount. Also, people may have heard of the Broward County Florida problem where the software in that county started “counting backwards” when a total of about 32,000 was reached (http://www.news4jax.com/politics/3890292/detail.html). This is undoubtedly due to a common computer bug where 16-bit integer values max out at 32,768 whereupon they go negative. Well, lo and behold, it seems that Franklin County also has (or had) this same 16-bit problem in 2000, if you look at the *CERTIFIED* 2000 general election results at http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/boe/content/election/electHistory/2000/2000GeneralAbstract.pdf. On page 32 of that document in (again) that pesky absentee entry, the total number of ballots is listed as NEGATIVE 26,699! Total absentee votes for president (summing the columns) was 37,436, so that’s a clear indication of the 16-bit integer bug. In fact, if that is the case, a reported total of minus 26699 would be 38,837 if the correct size integer had been used. That is 38,837 absentee ballots cast of which 37,436 had a vote registered for president. That at least makes sense.

Back to the present case of the 2004 election in Franklin County, the total absentee vote for Congress of 37,130 means that the 16-bit bug has probably reared its ugly head once again, and the reported absentee totals are completely fouled up. If nothing else, I would expect that the number of absentee ballots this time would greatly exceed the 2000 (corrected) total of 38,837—not 20,680.

It seems that tens of thousands of absentee ballots were not included in the unofficial totals reported to the Secretary of State.

as the stomach churns..

kris

and Waxman, Conyers, etal.
Get this info out to the media.

if there is a campaign

Well, I talked to someone in the know, and it seems there is an explanation. The absentee ballots were split into two roughly equal lines, so as to NOT encounter the 16-bit bug.

ABSENTEE 1
69 10158 10025 25 0 0 7416 11930 0 1006 1124 6597 9105 0 7488 11810 20680

ABSENTEE 2
70 10159 10025 25 0 0 7417 11931 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20680

So that 41,360 ballots were cast.