Voting Machine Mess-up Du Jour (Displayed 11/16/04)

Franklin County, Ohio. November, 2004. Danaher
Software reports 3,893 extra votes for Bush.

A Danaher ELECTronic 1242 computer error with a voting machine cartridge gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in a Gahanna precinct. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.*

[Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections] said after Precinct 1B closed, a cartridge from one of three voting machines at the polling place generated a faulty number at a computerized reading station.

The reader also recorded zero votes in a county commissioner race.

Damschroder said the cartridge was retested Thursday and there were no problems. He couldn't explain why the computer reader malfunctioned.

Workers checked the cartridge against memory banks in the voting machine Thursday and each showed that 115 people voted for Bush on that machine. With the other machines, the total for Bush in the precinct added up to 365 votes.

* Computer error at voting machine gives Bush 3,893 extra votes. Akron Beacon Journal. November 5, 2004. Associated Press.

News stories make it rapidly apparent that
electronic voting is not reliable, accurate, or secure.
Any one who claims otherwise is either uninformed or deceptive.
~ Joseph Holder