Voting Machine Mess-up Du Jour (Displayed 07/06/04)

San Francisco, California. November, 2000. ES&S. Optech Eagle precinct-count optical scanner. Huge discrepancies occurred between the number of ballots and the number of votes counted. In some precincts there were more votes counted than the number of ballots cast. In others there were more ballots than votes counted.*
	In polling place 2214 in the Western Addition, the city counted 416 ballots, but there were only 362 signatures in the roster, and the secretary of state found only 357 paper ballots. "That one would give me pause for concern," said Alameda County Registrar Clark. "If I had counted 54 more votes than I had signatures that would be a red flag."

* S.F. vote appears flawed but legal. San Francisco Chronicle. February 11, 2002. By Erin McCormick, Chronicle Staff Writer.

See: ES&S in the News

... the system we have for testing and certifying
voting equipment in this country
is not only broken, but is virtually nonexistent.
~ Michael Shamos
to the U.S. House Science subcommittee
on June 24, 2004