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Glitches Plague Voters On Election Day

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

November 7, 2006

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It isn't always a titillating scandal or traumatic national event that can change a country's course. Sometimes it's as small as voting machines breaking down or confusing laws about what identification you need.

As voters flock to the polls to decide which party is to control Congress for the next two years, reports are coming in from all around the country of electronic voting machines breaking down or failing to work, confusion over ID requirements, and poll workers who aren't trained or equipped to handle emergency crises.

The Associated Press reported that glitches and lack of training with new e-voting machines were causing delays for votes in Indiana and Ohio.

Many of the affected voting districts were turning to paper ballots to get votes counted, with some saying it could take most of the day to fix problems with the voting machines.

The phone system for Ohio's Franklin County temporarily failed due to an onslaught of calls from voters and poll workers trying to get help and information about the vote. The phones were restored around 9:30 A.M.

E-Voting Woes

Up to one-third of the country's voters may be using e-voting systems for this year.

The most well-known maker of e-voting machines, Diebold, strikes fear into the hearts of many for the constant failures of its products and the alleged role the company played in delivering the 2004 presidential election to George W. Bush.

Princeton University professor Ed Felten, a longtime chronicler of Diebold's woes, documented how the company was forced to recall thousands of machines that froze up right when voters were submitting their ballots during the election.

Diebold allegedly knew the machines were faulty as early as May 2004, but pushed the machines out for use in November 2004 anyway.

Diebold is the most infamous name when it comes to e-voting glitches, but it's not the only name with problems attached to it.

Diebold competitor Sequoia Voting Systems' machines have a "reset" feature that can enable enterprising ballot box stuffers to vote multiple times for whomever they like, if they switch the machine over to manual operation.

Voter activists exposed the problem in California and brought it to Sequoia's attention. The company said it would address the issue after the elections.

HBO recently aired a documentary, "Hacking Democracy," that chronicled the efforts of Seattle-based writer Bev Harris to expose the problems with e-voting machines, from the ease with which they can be manipulated to the lengths companies will go to cover up the problems.

Harris also founded the "Black Box Coalition," a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog group devoted to tracking and investigating issues relating to electronic vote machines.

Diebold was so incensed by the movie that it filed a complaint with HBO, to which the cable station responded that Diebold's claims were so inaccurate that it seemed they were "complaining about a different movie."

Present Your Papers

It isn't just machine glitches that are hindering voters' ability to get their ballots counted.

A flood of new state laws that demand stricter identification requirements for voters is causing legal battles and headaches for workers trying to keep the rules straight from minute to minute.

Supporters of voter ID laws say they will cut down on fraud and ensure accuracy for the vote, while opponents contend the laws disenfranchise the elderly, poor, and others who might not have the required documents for identity verification.

The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was designed to address many of the voting problems found in the 2000 election. It established the need to roll out electronic voting machines and to require first-time voters who registered by mail to show ID when they arrived at their polling places.

Many states have gone beyond the minimum requirements of HAVA, demanding proof of identity such as pay stubs or utility bills when it's time to vote.

A coalition of civil rights groups led a charge to block a voter ID law in Georgia from taking effect, saying it would discriminate heavily against black voters who didn't have drivers' licenses or the new digital ID cards that the state mandated as required identification for voting. A federal appeals court judge ruled that the injunction against the law should be upheld in Oct. 2005.

The requirements that many states are enforcing for voter ID laws are changing as quickly as the laws change, leading many election-day workers to give out incorrect information or make questionable decisions.

Missouri's Secretary of State and chief election supervisor, Robin Carnahan, Missouri Secretary of State and chief election supervisor, was repeatedly asked by a poll worker to show ID when she cast an absentee ballot on Nov. 3rd. Missouri's Supreme Court supported a lower court's ruling that threw out a law requiring photo ID to be presented at the voting centers.

What You Can Do

It's not too late to document any problems or difficulties you have or had in getting your vote recorded today, and there are numerous resources available to get you the information you need. Your vote counts, and it has to be counted for democracy to work.

• Election Protection 365, a Web site run by People for the American Way, has a toll-free hotline to record any difficulties with the vote, and is maintaining continuously updated reports of voting problems from around the country.

• ElectionOnline.org is a central clearinghouse for information relating to today's elections, including state voter ID laws, voter registration databases, and updated news reports relating to the vote effort.

• VoterStory.org offers voters a free utility to share and record their voting experiences for a central database that will be used to track and investigate instances of voter fraud or technical failure.

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