Audit: No tabulation problems with new Nevada voting machines

BRENDAN RILEY, Associated Press Writer

Friday, September 24, 2004
 

(09-24) 17:45 PDT CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP)

Nevada election officials faced some delays Sept. 7 in the nation's first use of computers that print paper records of electronic ballots, but Secretary of State Dean Heller says an audit shows no variations in tabulation results.

Election officials in all 17 Nevada counties sampled electronic and paper record results from the primary election at Heller's request. He said Friday he wanted to assure voters that the results were "the most accurate, most secure and most valid in the nation."

The audit involved just under 6,000 ballots, out of a total of 261,289 cast. While there were a few hassles Sept. 7, the primary was generally free of more serious problems that have cast doubt upon electronic voting systems in other states.

Pershing and Washoe counties reported delays in vote totals because election officials were unfamiliar with the equipment. Also, the outcome of a Humboldt County Commission primary race changed after officials discovered votes from three outlying areas weren't counted. But that was attributed to human error.

Nevada's $9.3 million voting system which includes more than 2,600 computers and printers deployed in every county could become a model for other states. California, Washington and Illinois recently passed laws requiring a paper trail for electronic ballots, and at least 20 others are considering similar legislation.

A delegation of federal election officials monitored the debut of the equipment, described by Heller as a "huge leap forward" for Nevada where seven of 17 counties used old-fashioned punch card machines in the previous election.

The printers, developed by Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., address some concerns of computer scientists and voting activists. Critics say paperless touchscreens which as many as 50 million Americans will use in the November presidential election can't be properly audited or recounted, and votes can be altered or d.

Nevada's system requires county registrars to randomly a small percentage of machines from 1 percent to 3 percent of a county's total and compare printed records with the vote totals taken from computers' memory cartridges. The paper records which voters can see through a plastic window but can't touch or take home will be kept in county election offices for 22 months and used in case of a recount.