Want to see something scary? Search for ballot error on Google News.
It’s pretty normal to see a few ballot errors right up to Election Day. Absentee voters have already reported a variety of problems, across the country. It wouldn’t normally be a major issue.
But in this election, ballots may be a bigger question than we expect. There are some pretty serious questions on the reliability of the electronic voting machines that are used in most precincts these days, and problems with paper ballots just makes the situation worrying. The fact that various groups have demonstrated how easy it …read more

This is a Guest Post by Brian Layman, Code Ninja for the b5media blogging network.  Brian is embeded with the WKYC Cleveland reporting staff in the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Election Counting House.

On Sunday, the New York Times ran a massive article covering the issues with electronic voting machines. The online version stretches over 10 pages, so let me provide a short summary before starting in on my response.
Electronic voting machines routinely have problems with the following:

server crashes
software interactions (most run custom software on top of a version of Windows)
printer jams
missing memory cards
touch screen flaws (these range from whether a past voters greasy fingers interfered with your vote to the mysterious ‘drag and drop’ problem in which a certain way of touching the screen causes the machine to crash)
reliability of printouts (they …read more

Voting is a complicated thing. After you manage to make it to the voting booth, you may be faced with any of several types of voting machines, each with a range of possible ballot designs. It can create an awful lot of confusion. The new electronic voting machines have been praised by many, criticized by some, and used by millions. But electronic voting in itself isn’t a silver bullet. Although electronic voting does seem to reduce the uncertainties of older, mechanical voting systems, electronic interfaces can confuse and frustrate the elderly and those with less technological competence, which creates a …read more

Ballots aren’t cheap — and I’m not talking about buy votes. Most election boards pre-order their ballots from print shops, and they have to print more than they expect to need. Add in the cost of optical scanners, and you’ll see why so many counties like the ideas of electronic balloting.
But Florida knows the need for a paper trail first hand, and county election boards are looking for ways to simplify the paper balloting process.  Around 27 counties will be making use of a technology straight out of publishing for early voting, if not the whole primary process: print on …read more

As of December 17, Mike Coffman, the head honcho of Colorado elections — his business cards say ‘Secretary of State’ — has decertified the electronic voting machines used in the majority of the state, citing a very long list of security concerns. This comes on the heels of Ohio’s Secretary of State releasing a study noting that Ohio’s electronic voting systems have “critical security failures.”
Coffman has declared the fallibility of electronic voting, but the responses of the various county election boards, as well as the county clerks responsible for overseeing elections.
In an interview with Denver’s Channel 7 News, Denver Clerk …read more