Voting Machine Mess-up Du Jour (Displayed 11/18/04)

Sarasota County, Florida. March, 2004. ES&S. 189 votes lost by touch-screen machines. According to the county Board of Elections, the votes of 189 people were never counted, but the County Commissioners are content.*
	"I've spent hours meeting with groups and I don't take the issues lightly," [Supervisor of Elections Kathy] Dent said. "The accuracy rate (of the touch-screen) has been certified to one error in 1 million votes." ... Critics cited the Democratic presidential primary in March as evidence that the machines are prone to error. According to the county Board of Elections, the votes of 189 people were never counted. The commissioners peppered Dent with questions about the reliability of the system, but ultimately were convinced that their decision a few years ago to purchase the touch-screen system was a good one.
For the error rate cited by Dent to be correct, Sarasota County would have to have 189 million voters — which it does not.

* Sarasota to forgo paper trail for ballots. Sarasota Herald Tribune; April 30. 2004. By Kim Hackett.

See: ES&S in the News

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