voting machines posts

Diebold's beleaguered venture into the rough and tumble world of electronic voting has finally, and officially, come to an end. Computer World is reporting that Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S) has purchased Diebold, Inc.'s election systems subsidiary Premier Elections Solutions.

Diebold joined the voting machine fray in 2002 with its purchase of Global Election Systems, Inc., which was first renamed 'Diebold Election Systems' and then 'Premier' two years ago. During the seven year run, Diebold was accused of operating "utterly insecure" machines (which experienced several breakdowns during the '08 elections), and received criticism for constantly trying to divert blame to others.

It wasn't really too difficult to see this one coming, as last fall's assertions that the company had "an increasingly bleak future" have proven to be wholly accurate. Hopefully, ES&S will learn from Diebold's mistakes and promptly address machine issues in an honest manner. Election season is, after all, only two months away. [From: Computer World]

For all of the worrying over voter fraud, voter suppression, and voting machine meltdowns, this year's presidential election went surprisingly smoothly. That's not to say that there weren't any problems, but that simply problems weren't widespread or severe enough to cause any doubt about the winner of the election.

AccuVote machines from Premier Election Systems (we warned you about the renamed Diebold) in Pennsylvania's Northumberland County were ordered to be impounded by a judge after voters complained of issues with voting a straight party line. A similar problem occurred with eSlate machines in Kenton County, Kentucky, where a judge ordered that 108 voting machines be shutdown after they exhibited issues with recording straight party votes.

There were early reports of issues in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida, beyond just long lines. But it would appear that the problems were dealt with effectively, as the din over voting trouble had become only a whisper by the time the polls had closed.

There was one high-profile issue at the polls in New York. Actor and liberal activist Tim Robbins was scrubbed from the registered voter rolls at the precinct where he voted the last several elections. This was the exception rather than the rule, though. Election Protection, the coalition of non-profits we encouraged you to contact for any issues, said there were still plenty of problems to iron out by 2012, but the day was quiet enough that they canceled an end-of-day press conference.

Tight monitoring of problems and swift reactions aided by technology (as well as a growing familiarity with electronic voting machines) limited the impact of any problems that did arise. Had the election been closer, these problems at the polls might have garnered more attention, so there is still a need to work towards eliminating calibration, stability, and security issues with electronic voting machines, which will only become more prevalent in elections to come. [From: BetaNews, CNN, Chicago Tribune, CBS News]

It's actually a 'Simpsons' joke -- Homer selects Barack Obama repeatedly, yet the electronic voting machine disregards his choice and racks up votes for John McCain. The joke would be pretty damn funny too, if it weren't actually happening in West Virginia and Ohio right now.

In the last few election cycles, the big names in bungled elections were Ohio and Diebold (which has been renamed Premier Election Solutions -- if you see that moniker on your voting machine, run for the hills). Ohio even had issues in 2007 and 2008 when vote tallies were swapped in a local race for township trustee. Another Ohio incident involved a withdrawn Democrat showing up on some e-voting machines, but not on others.

Of course, Ohio and Diebold (Premier Election Solutions) are not alone. The last few weeks have seen a number of reports out of West Virginia regarding issues with early voting on systems from Election Systems & Software. This past weekend, a flood of reports out of at least three different counties in West Virginia detailed machines that were refusing to register votes for Obama and other Democrats. Voters in Jackson County, Putnam County, and the city of Wheeling in Ohio County claim that machines are taking votes for Obama and switching them to McCain before their very eyes. Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright defended the touchscreen systems to the Charleston Gazette saying, "people make mistakes more than machines." Clearly, he's never used Windows Vista.

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