| Date |
Problem Type |
State
|
Vendor
|
Description
|
| 9/22/2009 |
Malfeasance |
OH |
|
Lucas County. 166 absentee ballots were left uncounted last Tuesday, Director Linda Howe said Monday. She said two employees, a Republican and a Democrat, have received reprimands in their files and have come up with procedures to avoid a recurrence of the neglected ballots.
Story
Archive |
| 11/22/2008 |
Malfeasance |
KY |
Hart InterCivic |
Harp Enterprises president, Roger Baird, told the Kentucky Board of Elections that nearly 100 counties that use Harp Enterprises to maintain and program their eSlate voting machines violated state law by NOT testing the machines before the election. He pointed out that Kenton County's misprogramming would have been detected by the pre-election tests required by state law.
Story
Archive
|
| 11/8/2008 |
Malfeasance |
FL |
|
Wakulla County. Two days after the polls closed, an orange bag filled with ballots was discovered at the elections office in Crawfordville. "Already three bags stuffed with votes had arrived with different seals on them. And it took nearly two hours for those ballots to be delivered from a precinct in Sopchoppy, 20 minutes away — 10, if you take the back roads." Two races are in the middle of a recount, one with a margin of eight votes.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2008 |
Malfeasance |
CO |
|
Secretary of State Coffman continues to purge voters at the eleventh hour, in violation of an agreement his office made in a federal lawsuit settlement. A federal judge has now ordered him to cease purging voters immediately. The Colorado Independent reports: ""The Advancement Project, a voter protection organization, filed suitagainst Coffman late last week for canceling as many 30,000 voters within 90 days of the federal election, a breach of the National Voter Registration Act. Coffman’s office settled with the Advancement Project late Wednesday evening, agreeing to let purged individuals vote by provisional ballot. But he has removed an additional 146 voters from the rolls since then."
Story
Archive |
| 10/29/2008 |
Malfeasance |
TX |
|
Collin County. At one polling station, election workers improperly demanded photo IDs from every voter. At another station, voters whose names were not listed in the state's new electronic voter database – even some with registration cards – were turned away and told to come back later.
Story
Archive |
| 9/1/2008 |
Malfeasance |
FL |
|
Broward County. Ellen H. Brodsky, an unaffiliated candidate challenging incumbent Brenda Snipes for supervisor of elections in the Nov. 4 general election, was illegally barred from observing the judicial race hand recount, in violation of Florida law.
BBV Archive |
| 8/7/2008 |
Malfeasance |
MO |
|
Jackson County. Poll workers illegally required a voter to show photo ID. He had previously confirmed confirmed with the election board that the ID he had was acceptable. When he persisted, the poll workers had him arrested. The charge: "Did knowingly cause a disturbance/disorderly conduct to wit: acts in a violent or tumultuous manner toward another, placing such person(s) in fear of safety by refusing to show proper I. D. when voting"
Story
Story2
Archive2
|
| 5/6/2008 |
Malfeasance |
NC |
|
Alamance County. A woman who was registered as unaffiliated was given an "independent" ballot. When she realized it was the wrong ballot, the poll worker said it was too late to change and refused to allow her to have a Democratic ballot.
Story
Archive |
| 4/22/2008 |
Malfeasance |
PA |
|
Philadelphia. In violation of the law, a sample ballot urging voters to support Hillary Clinton, Bob Brady, John Dougherty and William F. Keller was handed to voters inside the polling place at First Ward, 8th Division.
Story
Archive |
| 2/26/2008 |
Malfeasance |
AL |
|
Dallas County (Selma). "Workers at a precinct at the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma didn't
show up to open and let voters in today at 7 a.m. And by 8 a.m., city workers were asking voters if they wanted to work
the polls today."
Story
Archive |
| 2/9/2008 |
Malfeasance |
FL |
|
Volusia County. A poll worker failed to tell a blind woman she could vote independently on the DRE at the site. In violation of the law, the poll worker refused to allow the voter to have her father help her mark her ballot. Instead the poll worker -- without another person present -- assisted her and even gave her advice on what choices to make.
Story
Archive |
| 2/7/2008 |
Malfeasance |
NM |
|
The Democratic primary, run by the Democratic party, was an organizational disaster. Polls opened at noon, and multiple precincts were combined into single polling places, and the polls were severely understaffed -- all causing extremely long lines. Many voters left when they realized the wait time would be hours. In Rio Rancho County, all 37 precincts were combined into one polling place.
Story
Archive
Story2
|
| 2/7/2008 |
Malfeasance |
NM |
|
Rio Arriba County. "Roughly half the votes from Rio Arriba County spent the night in the privacy of the home or homes of one or more election officials in boxes those officials may have had the ability to open." Those ballots still haven’t been counted, but they have been retrieved by the state party.
Story
Archive |
| 2/5/2008 |
Malfeasance |
CA |
ESS |
Los Angeles. The electoral inspector at the Westside Jewish Community Center says he still has not received voting equipment, hours after polls opened. Bernie Cade says he has not received voting machines or the ink that goes in them for any of the seven booths in the polling station. Dozens of people were sent to other polling places nearby. Los Angeles County Registrar's office spokeswoman Grace Chavez says someone with the equipment should be on their way soon.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2007 |
Malfeasance |
NJ |
Sequoia |
Camden County. Cartridges were never removed from 12 of the voting machines, so the votes on them were not included in the count. But "the additional votes were not expected to affect the outcome of any races" said the election officials. A court order would be required to open the machines and count the votes.
Story
Archive
The second article says it was seven machines.
Story2
11/10/07 update. A superior court judge ordered the machines to be opened and the cartridges to be removed so the votes could be tallied.
Story
Archive
Archive2
|
| 5/10/2007 |
Malfeasance |
IN |
MicroVote |
Lake County. Three voting machines, left unguarded outside, were stolen.
Story
Archive |
| 12/15/2006 |
Malfeasance |
CO |
Hart InterCivic |
Montrose County. In violation of state law, county election officials did not perform pre-election testing. Appropriate testing is likely to have detected a ballot programming error affecting write-in selections. Nor did the county submit a security plan before the election, as required by a court order.
Story
Archive |
| 11/30/2006 |
Malfeasance |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. Investigation reveals that Denver election officials passed up the tested e-poll book software used by Larimer County, which would have handled the load. Instead they hired Sequoia to develop the software they were not experienced to do. Sequoia officials claim no knowledge of having developed the software. Officials estimate 20,000 voters were disenfranchised on Election Day. Turnout was 68,000.
Story
Archive
Story2
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Story3
Archive3
Story4
Archive4
12/1/06 update. Documents refute Sequoia official's claim that they didn't know the software would be used for voter check-in. City auditor estimates the cost of switching to vote centers was significantly higher than if the city had remained with neighborhood polling places, which would have also avoided the massive Election Day problems.
Story
Archive |
| 11/22/2006 |
Malfeasance |
UT |
Diebold |
Utah County. Without understanding the differences in database formats, county IT personnel used the current version to program the Diebold touch screen memory cards and and a backup version to program the memory card encoders. The formats were slightly different. "That mismatch prevented a ballot from being called up on the touchscreen voting machines, said Diebold spokesman David Bear." Apparently, the county officials didn't test the system before using it, or the mismatch would have been detected. Voters were left waiting in long lines, and some were turned away from the polls.
Story
Archive |
| 11/16/2006 |
Malfeasance |
CA |
|
Monterey County. In violation of a directive from the Secretary of State, poll workers were told by county officials not to offer paper ballots. Long lines caused many voters to leave without voting.
Story
Archive |
| 11/14/2006 |
Malfeasance |
PA |
ESS |
Centre County. Office of Elections told poll workes to begin voting on two machines without printing the zero tapes that show no votes are already cast, because the iVotronic that prints the zero tapes was not working.
Story
Archive |
| 11/9/2006 |
Malfeasance |
GA |
Diebold |
Bibb County. Malfunctioning Diebold machine taken out of service, put back into use when lines get long. The machine was initially shut down, but when long lines started to develop during the day, it was brought back into use, she said. Voters were told to be careful selecting their candidates and to review their ballots, she said, adding that she didn't think any voters cast incorrect ballots.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Malfeasance |
IN |
ESS |
Marion County. Thousands of votes are missing on 66 missing memory cards (e-ballot boxes). Marion County Clerk Doris Anne Sadler (R) says this occurs every election. "Usually it doesn't make a difference in the outcome of an election, so no one pays attention to that. But in this case it could make or break a candidate's position," she said. So far 23 cards have been found.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Malfeasance |
UT |
Diebold |
Utah County. Voters were turned away from the polls when the machines used to program Diebold voter access cards malfunctioned.
Story
|
| 11/3/2006 |
Malfeasance |
KS |
|
Seward County. Reform Party candidate, Sylvester Cain, running for 1st Congressional District Representative was not listed on hundreds of advance ballots. But his name will be included on the touch screens on election day. The county is required to send all candidates a proof-of-publication to confirm their names are on the ballots. Officials said no notice was sent to Cain, and he didn't call inquire about it.
Story
Archive |
| 11/3/2006 |
Malfeasance |
TN |
Diebold |
Shelby County. Several electronic voting cards, used to cast ballots on Diebold touch screens, are missing from a polling place in Memphis, according to the Tennessee Republican Party. "Once cast, an illegal vote made with the reprogrammed Smartcard would be indistinguishable from a legally cast vote," Davis wrote.
Story |
| 11/2/2006 |
Malfeasance |
OH |
|
Cuyahoga County. Severe security lapse. County officials used ordinary laptops, vulnerable to viruses, to retrieve and archive data from memory cards, which Princeton researchers have shown are capable of carrying viruses that would infect voting machines. “I first raised concerns to the Cuyahoga County Board of Election in mid-Summer, after Secretary of State Blackwell released an advisory about transferring electronic election data to CD ROM. After I witnessed the transfer, I raised concerns a potential security breach to Cuyahoga Board of Elections Chairman Bennett and the rest of the board on October 2nd,” said Adele Eisner. “Unfortunately, the board simply defended its dangerous practice."
Story |
| 11/8/2005 |
Malfeasance |
CA |
|
San Bernadino. Poll worker failed to show up on time and voters had to wait two hours or leave and come back.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2005 |
Malfeasance |
CA |
|
San Joaquin County. One memory disk was lost, another couldn't be read by the computer. Fortunately, the optical scan ballots were available for re-scanning.
Story
Archive |
| 2/17/2005 |
Malfeasance |
WI |
|
Some county clerks don't confirm same-day registrations. "Under state law, municipalities are required to send address verification cards to anyone who registers at the polls, then submit any cards returned as undeliverable to the district attorney. Last month, though, the Journal Sentinel reported there is spotty compliance in some communities around in the state."
Story |
| 2/15/2005 |
Malfeasance |
WI |
|
Number of ballots cast fails to match number of voters, many places across the state.
Neenah - 12,637 voters, 13,226 ballots ("a computer glitch caused more than 500 voter histories not to be updated").
Milwaukee - 269,212 voters, 277,535 ballots ("problems in entering polling place logbook information into the city computer system")
Waupun - 3,948 voters, 4,329 ballots
Bayside - 2,919 voters, 2,885
Howard - 8,942 voters, 8,729 ballots ("When some newly registered voters were entered into the voter database, the system automatically recorded that person as having voted in the November election")
Mosinee - 2,247 voters, 2,251 ballots
Eau Claire - 34,720 voters, 37,525 ballots
Madison - "The actual number of ballots cast overall was 138,452, but the city doesn't have a figure for the number of people recorded as having voted, Deputy City Clerk Sharon Christensen said."
Story |
| 2/11/2005 |
Malfeasance |
WI |
|
Milwaukee. An array of incidents showing mishandling of ballots and registrations -- "including 1,200 votes cast from invalid addresses; at least 7,000 votes unaccounted for in computer records; and 1,300 registration cards that could not be processed. Many of those were missing names or addresses."
Story |
| 12/24/2004 |
Malfeasance |
NM |
|
Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron failed to find -- and then denied the existence of -- 2,087 phantom votes in the certified results of the presidential election in New Mexico.
Story
Archive
To view the phantom-vote example cited in the story, go to the Bernalillo canvass report on the SoS website. Look on page 41 to see the 318 absentee votes for president in Precinct 512. Look in the last column on page 69 to see the number of absentee ballots -- 166. 158 more votes than ballots cast means 158 phantom votes. The report cited in the story is here. |
| 12/20/2004 |
Malfeasance |
OH |
|
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D., lead statistician for the election challenge lawsuit brought by the Alliance for Democracy, now in the Ohio State Supreme Court, reveals evidence indicating that some of the electronic voting machines in Mahoning County, Ohio were set up to have a default presidential candidate. In other words, voters who chose not to vote for a presidential candidate and voters who tried unsuccessfully to vote for the candidate of their choice unknowingly cast votes for the default candidate.
Story |
| 12/20/2004 |
Malfeasance |
US |
|
A review of election results in a 10-county sampling revealed more than 12,000 ballots that failed to record a vote for president, almost one in every 10 ballots cast. The unofficial audit by Scripps Howard News Service uncovered malfunctioning voting machines, improperly designed ballots and poor accounting procedures around the nation.
Study [Definitely worth reading.]
Archive
|
| 12/12/2004 |
Malfeasance |
OH |
|
Franklin County. (Columbus.) 39 voting machines, earmarked for inner-city precincts remained unused on election day. Officials have no explanation.
Archive |
| 12/12/2004 |
Malfeasance |
OH |
|
Greene County. Voting records, which had been denied to recount volunteers, were left unlocked and unattended overnight.
Story
Archive |
| 12/11/2004 |
Malfeasance |
OH |
|
Greene County. The Director of the Board of Elections refused recount volunteers access to public voting records, claiming it was on orders from Secretary of State Blackwell.
Story |
| 12/11/2004 |
Malfeasance |
OH |
|
Cuyahoga County. In Cleveland, poll workers failed to instruct voters to use the correct punch card machines for their precinct Since the candidates were in different order in different precincts, voters using the ballot for one precinct and the machine for a different one cast votes for candidates they didn't mean to select.
Story
Archive |
| 12/9/2004 |
Malfeasance |
PA |
|
Mercer County. Amid allegations of mismanagement and incompetence in the Nov. 2 general election, James Bennington, Mercer County's director of voter registration and elections, will quit at the end of the year. Among the complaints being investigated are electronic voting machines breaking down; a lack of paper ballots to make up for the broken machines; electronic machines not registering votes; some paper ballots missing candidates' names; and poll workers making people sign their paper ballots. Most of the reported problems were in 12 precincts in the county's southwest region. Coincidentally, all of those precincts have a Democratic majority.
Story
Archive |
