February 13, 2007

"Texas Dems Sue Over Electronic Voting

"The Texas Democratic Party sued the state's top election official Tuesday alleging that widely used eSlate electronic voting equipment doesn't properly record straight-party balloting.

The federal lawsuit over the voting machines made by Hart InterCivic claims straight-party votes cast with the equipment aren't fully tabulated if the voter goes through the ballot and selects certain candidates down the list as if to "emphasize" a decision.

In those cases, the vote for an emphasized candidate is lost, even though that might be the candidate the voter most wanted to support, said Buck Wood, an attorney for the party and for a Democrat in Madison County who is challenging an election he lost in which eSlate voting equipment was used.

The equipment doesn't collect and record votes the same as other voting systems used in the state and thus violates the U.S. Constitution, the Democrats allege.

The Texas secretary of state's office and Hart InterCivic knew of the problem before the eSlate equipment was used in the November general election, Wood said.

"They tested these machines. They knew that this was a problem," Wood said."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at February 13, 2007 03:59 PM