iVotronic e-voting software issues to blame in Florida polemic?
By Darren Murph 
posted April 18th 2007 3:47PM
posted April 18th 2007 3:47PM
Oddly enough, it seems that the Sunshine State attracts more than just tourists and nice weather, as Florida is now facing yet another round of e-voting woes long after elections have ended. While Diebold machines certainly administered their fair share of fits, now iVotronic's own systems are purportedly to blame for a controversial election in Sarasota County last November. Upon further review, officials noticed "symptoms consistent with a known software flaw" in the aforementioned machine, which countered the "county officials' claims that a bug played no role in the election results." Of course, this won't mark the first time that late-blooming documents shed light on a potential voting mishap, but it seems that both parties are standing their ground on this one. Apparently, the issues were spotted during the primary election, but since they appeared on a "smaller scale," they weren't adequately addressed. Currently, no individuals have been legally blamed for their deceptive handling of the probable mishap, but we'd seriously suggest that Florida thinks mighty hard before loosing these flawed machines on the public next time around.
Here we go again. This is all we are going to hear about through November of 2008... and then some.
And? This is important.
++. I'd rather have Engadget carry nothing but info on E-voting issues then having people bury their collective heads in the sand and ignore the problem. Independent software audits should become mandatory in every state. Anyone who thinks otherwise has either something to hide or isn't interested in a fair election.
Yes, you're right. It is important. My point is this: When is someone going to make a foolproof machine? Never. If it's electronic, it WILL be hacked or people will at least CLAIM that it was hacked. So let's just all agree that either we will use them - flawed, or we won't use them. Period. These complaints have been going on since these machines were introduced years ago.
I'm so sick of people yelling about their vote "not being counted" because of hanging chads, lines too long, machines jamming, missing ballots, no Armenian-speaking officials manning the booths, misprinted names, and on and on and on. It's getting to a point that no matter how fair and how hard people TRY to make an election fair, there will always be a contingent of people (you know who you are) claiming that someone (you know who they are) have been disenfranchised AGAIN - whether there is any proof or not.
I'm as American as the next American. I trust and value elections. IMHO, we have the greatest country on the face of this Earth thanks to our founding fathers. But I'm sick of the polls, elections, pundits, and candidates running full force 1 1/2 years before AND after the actual elections. GIVE US A SMALL BREAK, EH?
yeh dudes, we got the same machines in France in some voting offices for our Presidential election this sunday. Bizarre engough those machines were bought in cities held by Mr Sarkozy's friends. As you see, we also learn form americain hi-tech democracy !
See ya on sunday evening for the results of the first round !
C.
But I'm sick of the polls, elections, pundits, and candidates running full force 1 1/2 years before AND after the actual elections. GIVE US A SMALL BREAK, EH? -NHAnimator
The actual elections? You do realize there are more than just Presidential elections, right?
Of course. I'm aware of "off-year" elections, annual local elections, local primaries, etc. There are elections every year where I live and that SHOULD be the case.
I guess my statement was referring to the national presidential elections. I did not make that clear.
The issue in question was for the Congressional race in Florida's 13th District during last year's Midterm elections. All the major votes were on page one of the ballot, save for that race, which shower up at the VERY top of the second page, in smaller type than all the other races. It was very easy to miss, even if you were told to look for it prior to voting.
What ended up happening was that 18,000 people who filled out everything else on the ballot did not vote in that race. This ballot problem only happened in the city in which, when votes *were* cast in the race, they leaned very heavily to the Democratic Candidate. The Republican candidate (Vern Buchanan) won by a margin of under 400 votes.