ES&S IVotronicStates were required to have e-voting machines in place by January 1, 2006 as mandated by the Federal Election Commission which instituted the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), Public Law 107-252. HAVA was instituted to replace the punch card system which seemed to be so flawed and antiquated.
This past November 7th an election in Ohio leaves us wondering if e-voting machines are all that they are praised to be...
The company that supplied the machines to Lawrence County, Ohio, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), sent in technicians to check out the machines but it seems that ES&S is having quite a few problems with their machines. And not just in Ohio...
Recently, San Francisco charged ES&S with material breach of contract since they did not, allegedly, notify the city of changes made to the machines. ES&S claims no wrong doing but SF is not satisfied and is currently hand counting all ballots cast in their election of 11/7.
Connecticut voters discovered that rainy, dreary weather can impact e-voting machines causing them to jam. Evidently, voters allowed their ballots to contact their wet clothing and this caused problems with the machines.
A faulty e-voting machine was blamed for causing voter delays in Henderson County, Illinois.
Even though e-voting machines are shown to be faulty and "hackable" states are still required to use them in elections. There are also concerns about not having a paper trail of the votes cast so, as in the case of the Ohio election, results can be skewed and the wrong officials could be elected.
In a recent article by Rady Ananda, US to NY: You Gotta HAVA Faulty Voting Machine, Rady points out that though the USG mandates that the e-voting machines are required a state should be allowed enough time to secure a safe and accurately working machine - it should not just be a matter that the state has to put a machine, even a faulty one, in place.
Are we any better off with the electronic version over the punch card machine?
I don't think so... Me thinks that the 2000 election was "fixed" and it was not the punch card machine's fault. But there's always a fall guy in every scenario and the punch card machine was the fall guy. Unfortunately, the punch card machine didn't have anyone to stick up for it so it was tossed to the side like yesterday's mashed potatoes. And the shiny slick e-voting machine slid into it's place.
And, boy, that shiny slick e-voting machine isn't so slick after all. It's more like a pretty girl who, when she smiles, you find she has yellow, crusted, crooked teeth... brrrr
To learn more about e-voting machines read Is E-Voting Safe?
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1 comment:
From Andi Novick:
In order for the people to retain control over their government and sovereignty they must be able to observe the entire election process, particularly the vote counting. Computers prevent humans from observing the electoral process, particularly when these computers are secretly programmed by corporations. NYS law permits secret vote counting so long as a few members of the government can get in on the secret and so long as the people are never told. Only hand counting permits the people to see that their vote was counted as cast.
Not only do these computers conceal from the people how their votes are counted, but they have been repeatedly shown to be easily hacked and thus readily capable of ignoring our votes, changing the tallies and deciding the election outcome.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued NYS insisting that NY abide by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which the DOJ says should be done with these proven to be vulnerable-to-hacking computers. NYS wants more time before it employs these theft-enabling computers. Hand counting also satisfies HAVA so long as we have a means for disabled voters to vote. Citizens must demand that they, not computers, count their votes. The Attorney General, representing NYS in the litigation, should stop defending NYS's interest in controlling the elections with secret vote-counting computers and stand up for the people's right to transparent, accountable elections. Anything less is un-American and undemocratic.
Andi Novick, Esq.
Rhinebeck NY
Coordinator, Election Defense Alliance and
Co-Founder, Northeast Citizens for Responsible Media
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