September 28, 2005

"Voting machines near certification, but paper ballots to be used Nov. 8"

"Twelve paper jams and 21 screen freezes are the reasons why voters will once again use paper ballots during the Nov. 8 election.

Despite county efforts to get its 96 electronic-voting machines certified this summer, several glitches - that have reportedly been fixed but still need certification - will keep the machines in storage until at least next spring, San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Deborah Hench said.

Hench will discuss the voting machines today with the board of supervisors.

The county bought 96 TSX Voting System machines from manufacturer Diebold in 2002. They were used, successfully, for the first time in the March 2004 primary election. But the following month, the Secretary of State's Office decertified all e-voting machines in the state and mandated that that all machines have a paper audit trail.

The audit trail is a print-out that a voter looks at to make sure everything is OK, but the voter does not take the form; it is kept as information for future audits.

Last July the, the Secretary of State's office asked the county to test the entire system in a practice election.

"This test had never been done before and there was no measure of passing or failing," Hench said.

The results answered important questions such as how many rolls of paper were needed for the audit trail and what to do in case a machine fails.

A study also discovered that nine machines could have had a paper jam, which meant that out of more than 700 virtual votes, the print-outs on 12 might appear smudged. However, that would not have affected the vote itself, she said.

"The Secretary of State's Office thought that it was not good enough," she said."

You read the rest of the article here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at September 28, 2005 11:27 AM