Florida Diebold machines help you pick the right candidate

Apparently Diebold's problems aren't limited to Maryland, Georgia or Alaska -- what a shocker. Down in the Sunshine State, during a week of early voting before next week's nationwide midterm election, certain Diebold machines have been registering some votes for Democrats as selections for the Republican candidate. For instance, Gary Rudolf, a voter at a polling site near Ft. Lauderdale, tried to vote for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis (D); however, when the Diebold machine gave him the final review screen, it showed his vote was about to be cast for Charlie Crist (R). The problem took three tries to get resolved with the help of a local poll worker. Mary Cooney, a Broward County Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman, informed The Miami Herald that it's "not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to recalibrate them on the spot -- essentially, to realign the video screen with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the poll-workers manual." Huh? How exactly does a computer -- one that is being used heavily for one day a year, and not a $100 PDA -- "slip out of sync" ? Further, no one in Broward County is even sure how large of a problem this is "because there's no process for poll workers to quickly report minor issues, and no central database of machine problems." Is it any wonder that major candidates are urging voters to vote the analog old-fashioned way?

[Via digg]

[escobar @ Oct 30th 2006 7:47PM]

I, for one, welcome our computer pre-selected Republican overlords.

[Raider @ Oct 30th 2006 7:51PM]

Its the program, called Jeb.B

[William Brand @ Oct 30th 2006 8:11PM]

I think Escobar read my mind.

The whole thing is pretty sad, and it makes me wonder how long this sort of thing has been going on. How many people vote without looking end up accidentally voting for the wrong candidate?

On the flip side, this might increase voter turnout! More people will want to vote when they don't even have to do it themselves. Thank you for helping us make our lives one step easier, Diebold :)

[Simon @ Oct 30th 2006 8:12PM]

Hey Diebold I've got another one: "The dog ate my homework."

Yeah, no one but the most stupid ever believed that either. Still it's better than yours :p

[Blah @ Oct 30th 2006 8:18PM]

engadget stop picking on Diebold. Your so anti Sony, I mean Diebold.

-SonyFanBoy

[Zorque @ Oct 30th 2006 9:03PM]

"Stop picking on Enron. If you keep your job, you'll make your money back eventually, am I right?"

[Flip21 @ Oct 30th 2006 8:24PM]

Every single instance of misrepresenting the candidates chosen I've read about have dealt with Democrat selections being treated as Republican selections.

[Dan @ Oct 30th 2006 8:28PM]

Can someone please explain to me why creating a reliable voting machine is, apparently, the penultimate human achievment?

Didn't we create the atomic bomb, put man on the moon, and map the human genome and stuff?

[Whynot @ Oct 31st 2006 7:05AM]

But it is reliable! Well, not for the voters unfortunately, but the candidates(R) find it very reliable and thank Diebold(R) for it
:P

[TJ Wasik @ Oct 31st 2006 11:18AM]

It's not, the only problem is that no one seems to want to do it right. The only way to make a secure reliable voting machine is to centralize it. The voting "machines" at the polling locations should be nothing more than terminals w/ a secure connection to a central mainframe. The mainframe then does all of the poll processing and counting. It means one location to secure, not thousands. If anything goes wrong there can be highly trained techs at the location (can't put them in every polling station) the only real risk the system would have would be if the communication lines get severed, which is a low risk, and if it does the terminal can't do anything on it's own and will just shut down.

[Cly @ Nov 2nd 2006 8:45AM]

Yeah, and this is Diebold. The company that make ATM machines that keep VERY accurate records. If Diebold ATM worked as poorly as voting machines no bank in the world would buy them!

[eflyersteve @ Oct 30th 2006 8:29PM]

Hmm - gotta wonder why it's always reported that these things err on the side of republicans?

You have to look at it two ways - 1) it's a right-wing conspiracy or 2) incompetence

Eitehr make the connection to a conspiracy, which I think Engadget wants badly to do, or call it like it is - the same stupid people who can't punch a chad are also incapable of poking a screen in the right place.

[Brad @ Oct 30th 2006 9:45PM]

It's definitely a conspiracy of some sorts. Diebold is owned by some Republican Party backers and it's just a coincidence that their machines screw up quite often and make a vote for Republicans in place of Democrats. How shocking. Can't wait for all the information to come out.

[foo @ Nov 1st 2006 5:58PM]

"call it like it is - the same stupid people who can't punch a chad are also incapable of poking a screen in the right place."

This statement is typical of the high percentage of bigoted idiots in the U.S. that allow their elections to be stolen right from under their noses. No other country on the planet would allow such blatent election fraud to go unpunished. And you losers have been doing it for 6 years running now!

Wake up!!

You deserve the government you get. And what you Americans have is stealing your future and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the process...

[CharlieX @ Oct 30th 2006 8:30PM]

The concessions ordering screen at my local movieplex doesn't "slip out of sync"... Good thing too, because who'd want Goobers when you actually pressed Sour Patch Kids? sheez...

I call BS.

[Alcaron @ Oct 30th 2006 8:30PM]

But, but, voting is my chance to be heard!!!! Its...not useless...puffy said so!

Said it before, say it again...voting is a f'ing joke.

I'd rather have my name go on a list of people who refuse to participate in this f**king circus than vote for ANYONE.

That said, I will camp the f'ing line is McCain gets nominated, I will hump the diebold machine into submission if thats what it takes.

Give me someone worth my vote and I'll vote.

Death to diebold.

[Deluxe @ Oct 30th 2006 8:52PM]

You sound like one of those people that refuse to vote, and then whine and complain and kick up a stink when someone you don't like gets in.

You may dislike all the candidates, but I'm sure there are some you dislike more than the rest. The lesser of two evils?

[michael @ Oct 31st 2006 7:50AM]

yeah because ppl like you didnt & dont vote, bush got into power and screwed up the world for the rest of us... good job idiot... voting is often about choosing the lesser of two evils..

[Ryan @ Oct 30th 2006 8:38PM]

I'm sure this isn't the only problem with the damn machines. I'm sure they will have an error that "could not accurately report the number of votes in battling districts"

[TVoIP @ Oct 30th 2006 8:44PM]

I just used a Sequoia machine as a part of "early voting" ... it was ok, a little hard to use, but it prints a paper record that can be tracked, that's a little nicer ... and it did flag two of 25 or so judges up that I had missed ... so that was nice

[Alcaron @ Oct 30th 2006 8:58PM]

lol no, believe me, I am just as "for" kerry as I am for bush, &(*# both of them.

And "lesser of two evils"...never heard that one before.

You know what...its BS. Complete BS. If bush and kerry are the best we can do, and dont bring up libertarian or anything else, sadly its a two party system, anyone who thinks otherwise, and again this is part of why things dont work, is fooling themselves, but if thats the best we can do then we have a VERY big problem.

I refuse to put my name on a piece of paper and say "I want this person"...if I go to the auto mechanic and the only two people working are the receptionist and the janitor nobody is going to suggest I pick the lesser of the two evils.

Nobody is going to say "hay...surely one of them is better than the other, pick them"...oh, sure, one of them may be, but I'm sure as hell not going to authorize either one of them to touch my car.

One of them MAY suck less than the other (though which that might be is a complete mystery to me) but that doesnt make it ok. "well, kerry sucks, but hey, bush sucks to so at least its even right!"...sheesh.

[Pat @ Oct 30th 2006 9:19PM]

You should run for office then.

[number40one @ Nov 2nd 2006 5:35PM]

Comparing it to going to get your car fixed is ludicrous. This isn't consumerism, or capitalism, or product selection... it's voting.

Even if one candidate is only ever-so-slightly less of a piece of shit than the other one in your mind, wouldn't it stand to reason that that slightly-better candidate should get the job instead of the other yay-hoo?

Yeah, they all suck. But since the process is going to go on with or without you, wouldn't you want the one that sucks LESS in power? If you don't want to participate, then shut the hell up.

[Bob @ Oct 30th 2006 9:03PM]

"Early voting"? What the hell is that? An election is a snapshot in time, it's a measure of the pulse of the country, taken on one particular day in the life of the country.

[crzy @ Oct 30th 2006 11:56PM]

Early voting is available in many metropolitan areas.

[Jon Niola @ Oct 30th 2006 9:28PM]

I find it alarming that in an election that will be decided by razor-thin margins that our future leaders are being chosen by votes cast on insecure, flawed machines owned and created by partisan companies. I also find it alarming that the errors eerily seem to always favor one party over the other even outside of the realm of any kind of statistical likelihood.

[Charles R Hamilton @ Oct 30th 2006 9:28PM]

"Hmm - gotta wonder why it's always reported that these things err on the side of republicans?

You have to look at it two ways - 1) it's a right-wing conspiracy or 2) incompetence

Eitehr make the connection to a conspiracy, which I think Engadget wants badly to do, or call it like it is - the same stupid people who can't punch a chad are also incapable of poking a screen in the right place."

Well said Steve. The "mainstream media" (read: liberal) is putting out all of the voter fraud stories they can so if they lose, they will once again say it was stolen.

[Matt Errend @ Oct 30th 2006 9:35PM]

Actually, I have seen touch screen LCD panels go out of calibration on Diebolds ATM machines, that will require recalibration every few hours.

[Simon @ Oct 30th 2006 9:37PM]

Yeah, US mainstream media is liberal, sure, and Bush is fair and just, right, and Jesus was a Christian, hell yeah ...

The best part of it all is that as far as state policy is concerned, there isn't much difference between the D and the R. It's just a matter of personal profit. And the general american public is just a herd of sheeps that vote for the best show.

[Eddie @ Oct 30th 2006 9:45PM]

@Simon and a few others...

If you don't believe the mainstream media is liberal, you should get help, because you clearly have no grasp on reality.

[Don Mason @ Nov 1st 2006 4:25PM]

There is a never ending myth of a "Left Leaning" media espoused by the rantings of the less than literate Ditto Head crowd. Let�s examine the facts.

First, to find the truth, simply follow the money.

Second, consider what the media actually is in an economic system like our own.

1- THE MEDIA IS A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE THAT GENERATES ALL REVENUES FROM THE SALE OF ADVERTISING.

2- ADVERTISING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT TO ALLOW THE SUCCESS OF A MASS PRODUCTION ECONOMIC MODEL.

3- MASS PRODUCTION REQUIRES MASS MARKETING IN ORDER TO SUCCEED..

4-Everything the media does is tuned to maximizing advertising revenue. No advertising, no profits.

NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT EXISTS PURELY TO DRAW A MARKETING AUDIENCE TO ALLOW CHARGING FEES FOR ADVERTISING, WHICH GENERATES THE INCOME FOR THE MEDIA. NO FEES, NO PROFITS.

As Mark Twain once said,�A journalist is simply a person that fills in the space between advertisments.�

Over 90% of the media in the USA is owned by very conservative Republican managed corporations....

General Electric/NBC (spent $1.1 million to reelect Bush),

Westinghouse/CBS (spent $900,000 to reelect Bush)

Disney/ABC (spent $640,000 to reelect Bush)

Time Warner/ AOL (spent $1.6 million to reelect Bush)

Fox News Corp/Fox Networks controlled by Rupert Murdock, who spent $2.9 million to reelect Bush through Phillip Morris Corp. (Rupert Murdoch: Board of Directors, Philip Morris (USA)

Just follow the money.

Cheers!

[Eddie @ Oct 30th 2006 9:48PM]

Also, I completely agree with Alcaron.

[Anonymous @ Oct 30th 2006 9:55PM]

"Actually, I have seen touch screen LCD panels go out of calibration on Diebolds ATM machines, that will require recalibration every few hours"

Yeah, but that's a little different. ATM machines are used constantly, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Most of these machines are used at a maximum of two or three times a year (to test, update software, etc.), with an election every two or so years being the only time where they are put under heavy use.

Every touch screen I'veseen (be it on my DS, on a PDA, on a computer/ tablet PC) has been a lot better than that at staying calibrated.

So either the machines are rigged, or Diebold is ripping off our government by using cheap parts in their voting machines. Either way, I'm dissapointed in our Government.

[gary_7vn @ Nov 2nd 2006 9:30AM]

ummm, it's not really your government unless you are rich or a Zionist.

[Tom Reinke @ Oct 30th 2006 10:16PM]

Gee, this sounds like "Man of the Year"

Doesn't it?

[mccarron @ Oct 30th 2006 10:33PM]

^^^ Why do you think they made the movie? This problem isn't new.

@ Eddie - if you think the mainstream media is liberal you either need a new grasp on reality, or your spectrum is as accurate as these machines and needs some recalibration. On a full range from completely conservative to completely liberal, the US media as well as most things in America fall to the right. Just because what you call liberal falls to the left of what you think, that doesn't make it liberal.

@ Alcaron - I used to think the same way as you and still do in a sense, I wouldn't want to give my stamp of approval to either candidate, but (if I may use your metaphor) ONE of them IS going to work on your car, whether you choose or not. So you might as well pick which one.

[Chucklenuts @ Oct 31st 2006 3:47PM]

[ @ Alcaron - I used to think the same way as you and still do in a sense, I wouldn't want to give my stamp of approval to either candidate, but (if I may use your metaphor) ONE of them IS going to work on your car, whether you choose or not. So you might as well pick which one. ]

To take that a step further: If you don't like that place of business, go somewhere else. (i.e. move to another country)

If elected, Kerry may or may not have been better, but keeping Bush as king (along with keeping his lackey congress) just gave him carte blanche to do whatever he wants.

We have a real chance this election to get some oversight into the abuses of this administration. When one party controls all three branches of government, it is ripe for corruption.

[Scott @ Oct 30th 2006 10:36PM]

Who do they have programming these things? Did they take the thousand monkeys off of writing the great literary works or something? How hard is it to make a friggin' voting machine? I know that they are paranoid about security but c'mon, this is re-frickin-diculous.

[Joe @ Oct 30th 2006 10:36PM]

Voting is one activity which should be paper based only, and people should hand count the ballots and make chicken scratches on a piece of paper and then add them up by hand. Technology can NEVER be trusted for perhaps the most important activity a representative republic's citizen's must do.

[Jeff @ Oct 30th 2006 11:03PM]

"Eitehr make the connection to a conspiracy, which I think Engadget wants badly to do"

How completely out of it can a person be?

Engadget doesn't "want badly" to make that connection - that connection was made long ago and is now just taken for common knowledge. Which it is, except of course to diehard Limbaugh Republicans with their heads stuck up their asses. It's not necessary to even point it out anymore - it's kind of like assuming you know that cigarettes cause cancer or that the Earth is getting warmer. Are you really so dense that you still need it spelled out for you?

Diebold's connections to Republicans are long-established and are fact, uncovered in part by a whistleblower who released reams of company emails to the public several years ago, as well as in campaign contributions and public statements from Diebold company officers (one of which promised to "deliver Ohio to the Republicans" in 2004) and factc uncovered in a lengthy public (and bipartisan) investigation by California several years ago. None of these facts are even in dispute - even by Diebold, who has only ever threatened to sue those responsible for release of the emails, but has never disputed their contents.

Get your heads out of the sand. Sheesh. I guess to a Republican, the only kind of cheating that matters is in matters of sex.

[Bucket @ Oct 30th 2006 11:54PM]

Two words: absentee ballot.

[alfa_spider84 @ Oct 30th 2006 11:54PM]

Conspiracy theorists live in a dark, nasty world. You might want to peak from under your rock every once in a while.

[LTM @ Oct 31st 2006 4:28AM]

Hey alfa-spider

Peak from under our rock!! What, so we can see how f*&$*# up this country has become because of dipshit Bush and his bunch of greedy self serving assholes at the helm?


What planet are you on?

[JD @ Oct 31st 2006 12:09AM]

WTF? A machine cast a vote for the wrong candidate and "Election officials say they aren't aware of any serious voting issues". Again, WTF?!

The fact that one vote is wrong (3 times!) should be enough to convince people to get rid of these machines. How do election officials get away with this? Oh, that's right, they're "elected".

Man, what a disgrace.

[BlackAle @ Oct 31st 2006 2:33AM]

I thought the US was the most powerful country in the world? ...so why can't they create a simple electronic voting machine???

[Charles R Hamilton @ Oct 31st 2006 7:31AM]

BlakAle, it doesn't matter how simple you make it. Democrats in Florida couldn't operate a simple punchcard ballot, and it don't get much more simple than that.

[M @ Oct 31st 2006 4:00AM]

For people who love democracy, it's kinda callous to throw it to the wind with unreliable,compromisable systems. This technology clearly isn't mature enough, and for voting, it should rank with the reliability of hardware required for say, a nuclear power plant.

[Wilson @ Oct 31st 2006 7:14AM]

This is fraud plain and simple. The Republicans have this election bought and paid for.

[ZS @ Oct 31st 2006 7:48AM]

Hmm ... I wonder if it would even be reported if it was a Democrat being switched in instead of a Republican, and if it were reported, the reaction from the crowd at large ...

Either way, yet another reason not to use these pieces of crap.

[jwer @ Oct 31st 2006 8:21AM]

In Maryland, where I am a Poll Worker this election, there is no 15-step process for re-calibrating the screens, at least, not that they gave us. MAYBE they only gave that to the Chief Judges, but why?

Also, there are massive shortages in absentee ballots this year. Luckily for us, the only Republican that has a shot is the one already in the Governor's office, and he's only there because he ran on the FIRST BLACK LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR ticket last time.