Some of these problems are reminiscent of the first statewide election
held in Florida after the switch by 15 counties to electronic voting
machines (although no Diebold touchscreen machines were in use--Sequoia
and ES&S were the certified ones at the time) in the September 2002
primary. Many pollworkers just did not want to learn new equipment
(although most who had trained did show up on Election Day, many just
didn't train), some county workers did not start the boot up process
timely so it took several hours, delaying voting in some precincts; some
workers did not plug in the machines, so when the "backup" battery ran
out, the machine shut down, and other errors mostly caused by
inexperience and inadequate training of election workers. I don't recall
we had so many ballot styles as a problem, the rest seem familiar.
Leaving memory modules in the machines so they did not get counted also
occurred in some instances even in the 2004 election. These problems
were mostly resolved by the time of the general election by a commitment
of resources by the State, the counties, and the voting machine
companies to increase training and have more manufacturer technical reps
on the ground during the election. So, don't judge all by the first
experience; it can get better with effort.
Best,
Clifford A. Jones, J.D., M.Phil., Ph.D.
University of Florida Levin College of Law
Center for Governmental Responsibility
Spessard L. Holland Law Center
230 Bruton-Geer Hall
P.O. Box 117629
Gainesville, FL 32611-7629
Tel. (352) 273-0845 (Direct)
Tel. (352) 273-0835 (Main)
Fax (352) 392-1457
Email: jonesca@law.ufl.edu
Home:
2230 N.W. 24th Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32605
Tel. (352) 367-9992
Fax (352) 367-9456
Candice Hoke <shoke@law.csuohio.edu> 5/4/2006 10:59:30 AM >>>
On Tuesday, May 2, Ohio held a statewide primary election for all the
constitutional officers of the State (Governor, Attorney General,
Secretary of State, etc.), plus the federal office primaries, and many
local offices and ballot questions. For the first time, voters were
allowed no-fault absentee ballots. No results for the county have been
reported yet. Here's why--
For many Ohio counties, including Cuyahoga (Cleveland), this was the
first election in which e-voting technology was used. The smaller
counties, and those which had been using electronic voting previously,
have at present reported few problems. In Cuyahoga County, which was
using punch cards as late as November 2005, very significant and
persistent problems have led to the inability to report election
results. The Board Members (2 Rs and 2 Ds) have been working
assiduously with Director Michael Vu to resolve problems that were
developing last week and into this week.
A few key problems:
<>
<><>-- all absentee ballots (over 17,000) have had to be handcounted,
and they are still being counted-- predodminantly by temps. These were
optical scan ballots. The Diebold scanners were evidently delivered
only 2 weeks ago. While the scanners reportedly were able to
accurately
count test ballots, as soon as real Cuyahoga County ballots were tested
(on Monday), the machines failed to read properly. Diebold claims
that
in the rest of Ohio, these scanners have worked fine so the problem
lies
in the printing company's errors. It is not clear who bears
responsibility at this time. <><><><> <><><>
--Hundreds of poll workers failed to report to work on Tuesday morning,
evidently worried about the new technology.<><><><><><><><><><><><>
-- Diebold TSx touchscreen DREs were used at the polling places for the
first time. Many polling places were unable to open promptly because
the machines did not boot up. It appears that one cause may lie in the
county manuals having inaccurate set up, security check, and closing
down directions. But it is not clear whether some of the problem lies
with the vendor/manufacturer.
-- the Diebold servers that were to receive the transmissions from the
roughly 45 zone stations throughout the county (after precinct memory
cards were delivered) were reportedly unable to handle the data.
Director Vu stated that Cuyahoga had to prepare over 67,000 separate
ballot styles for this election (owing to a multitude of smaller
jurisdictions, the party primaries where separate ballots had to be
provided, and most crucially-- the Ohio law requiring candidates' names
to be rotated in particular ways). I am checking to see if the State
law may admit other interpretations that could reduce the number of
ballot styles in the future. But the prolix number of ballot styles
required, whether this amount or even only 25% of this number, does
admit an unacceptable degree of human error into the system. The vast
number of ballot styles may have been the cause of the server problems.
The State Legislature should revisit the ballot styles issue.
-- initially, over 200 memory cards were not returned and are believed
still remaining in the DRE units. The number reported has fluctuated
between 50 and over 200. Some memory cards have been retrieved and
others remain missing.
In early June, the nonpartisan Center for Election Integrity will be
holding a results-oriented conference to examine the statewide
experience on May 2 and to generate an action-agenda for improvements.
Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones is a confirmed panelist. We will
send further information later as speakers have been confirmed. Our
Center is also endeavoring to assist the County in resolving the
current
vote count problems. I'm sending Rick the newspaper links for his
report.
Candice Hoke
Director, Center for Election Integrity
Assoc. Professor of Law
Cleveland State University
2121 Euclid Ave., Cleveland OH 44115
216.687.2313 (W)
216.687.4626 (Sec'y)
216.397.8266 (H)
www.csuohio.edu/cei/
<><><>