QUOTE
"A handful of new, touch-screen voting machines in Florida's Miami-Dade
County malfunctioned, resulting in votes intended for Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride being recorded for his Republican
opponent, Gov. Jeb Bush, according to poll monitors for several civil
rights organizations. Local officials blamed improperly calibrated machines
that were later fixed, but some voters wondered how many incorrect votes
were tallied before the problem was discovered.
"It could have happened to someone else and they wouldn't have noticed it
at all," said Reginald Smith, 26, a McBride supporter in Miami who said his
machine recorded his vote incorrectly four times before poll workers
repaired it.
Smith's office said it had received only one report of a malfunctioning
touch-screen machine, in Broward County.
Elsewhere in Florida, computer problems briefly disabled ballot screens in
three precincts in the central part of the state, and two precincts in
Miami were forced to switch to paper ballots for about three hours because
of voting machine problems.
Texas officials said that a computer malfunction at polling places in
Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, would delay the counting of
almost 300,000 ballots. Instead of being tallied at the polling places, the
ballots were to be transported to the county's central election office for
tabulation.
Officials said the problem stemmed from some computers' inability to
process straight-party votes, leaving those ballots uncounted.
In San Francisco, polling places in about 100 of the city's 632 precincts
ran out of ballots, a spokeswoman for Mayor Willie Brown said. New ballots
were delivered but it was unclear how many people were unable to vote.
There was considerable confusion in one Arkansas county. The state
Democratic Party obtained a court order last night that extended voting for
90 minutes, to 9 p.m. (CST), in Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock.
Officials said the extension was sought because several polling places in
the county ran out of paper ballots during the day and turned away voters.
But Adrienne Elrod, a spokesman for the Democrats, said that by the time
the court order was delivered to many precincts, the polls had already
closed. Then the Arkansas Supreme Court intervened in the case, overturning
the extension in those polling places that remained open. Late last night
it was not clear what effect, if any, those developments would have on
races in the state.
Georgia yesterday became the first state in the nation to conduct an
election using a unified, statewide computer voting system. Chris Riggall,
spokesman for Secretary of State Cathy Cox (D), said only scattered
problems involving equipment failures were reported during the day. "The
reaction of voters [to the new equipment] has been phenomenal," he said.
The deadlocked 2000 presidential election and the chaotic recount of
ballots in Florida formed the backdrop for yesterday's balloting. For
officials in Florida, embarrassed twice by election system failures, the
stakes were especially high.
Following the 2000 presidential election, Florida lawmakers authorized an
overhaul of the system and the purchase of new voting equipment,
eliminating the infamous punch cards that were at the center of the recount
debacle. But in the first test of the new equipment, the Sept. 10 primary
elections, there were numerous malfunctions and confusion among apparently
poorly trained poll workers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
One change enacted by Florida lawmakers appeared to speed up yesterday's
voting. For the first time, the state authorized early voting, which began
Oct. 21, reducing yesterday's waiting time for voters, who faced a long and
complex ballot. In Miami-Dade County alone, more than 100,000 voters took
advantage of the early voting option before the polls opened yesterday.
The early voting "seems to have helped by taking the pressure off of local
officials," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way,
who was in South Florida to observe the balloting yesterday. "The early
balloting helped considerably."
"Things are definitely better than they were on September 10," Neas added.
"The problems seem to be episodic rather than systemic."
Jim Dyke, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, concurred.
"Generally, it's going fairly well," he said. "It sounds like some specific
cases in specific places, and people are having to wait to vote in a lot of
places, but maybe that's because lots of people are voting, and we think
that's a good thing."
Last month, Congress enacted and President Bush signed legislation to
overhaul election systems throughout the nation. That measure authorized
$3.86 billion to help states buy modern voting equipment and make other
changes, including the creation of statewide, computerized voter databases.
It also mandated other steps in voter registration and voting procedures.
But most of the federally mandated changes will not take effect until 2004
or 2006. While a few states such as Florida, Georgia and Maryland enacted
broad revisions of their election systems, in most parts of the country,
yesterday's voting took place under the same conditions as it did two years
ago."
County malfunctioned, resulting in votes intended for Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride being recorded for his Republican
opponent, Gov. Jeb Bush, according to poll monitors for several civil
rights organizations. Local officials blamed improperly calibrated machines
that were later fixed, but some voters wondered how many incorrect votes
were tallied before the problem was discovered.
"It could have happened to someone else and they wouldn't have noticed it
at all," said Reginald Smith, 26, a McBride supporter in Miami who said his
machine recorded his vote incorrectly four times before poll workers
repaired it.
Smith's office said it had received only one report of a malfunctioning
touch-screen machine, in Broward County.
Elsewhere in Florida, computer problems briefly disabled ballot screens in
three precincts in the central part of the state, and two precincts in
Miami were forced to switch to paper ballots for about three hours because
of voting machine problems.
Texas officials said that a computer malfunction at polling places in
Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, would delay the counting of
almost 300,000 ballots. Instead of being tallied at the polling places, the
ballots were to be transported to the county's central election office for
tabulation.
Officials said the problem stemmed from some computers' inability to
process straight-party votes, leaving those ballots uncounted.
In San Francisco, polling places in about 100 of the city's 632 precincts
ran out of ballots, a spokeswoman for Mayor Willie Brown said. New ballots
were delivered but it was unclear how many people were unable to vote.
There was considerable confusion in one Arkansas county. The state
Democratic Party obtained a court order last night that extended voting for
90 minutes, to 9 p.m. (CST), in Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock.
Officials said the extension was sought because several polling places in
the county ran out of paper ballots during the day and turned away voters.
But Adrienne Elrod, a spokesman for the Democrats, said that by the time
the court order was delivered to many precincts, the polls had already
closed. Then the Arkansas Supreme Court intervened in the case, overturning
the extension in those polling places that remained open. Late last night
it was not clear what effect, if any, those developments would have on
races in the state.
Georgia yesterday became the first state in the nation to conduct an
election using a unified, statewide computer voting system. Chris Riggall,
spokesman for Secretary of State Cathy Cox (D), said only scattered
problems involving equipment failures were reported during the day. "The
reaction of voters [to the new equipment] has been phenomenal," he said.
The deadlocked 2000 presidential election and the chaotic recount of
ballots in Florida formed the backdrop for yesterday's balloting. For
officials in Florida, embarrassed twice by election system failures, the
stakes were especially high.
Following the 2000 presidential election, Florida lawmakers authorized an
overhaul of the system and the purchase of new voting equipment,
eliminating the infamous punch cards that were at the center of the recount
debacle. But in the first test of the new equipment, the Sept. 10 primary
elections, there were numerous malfunctions and confusion among apparently
poorly trained poll workers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
One change enacted by Florida lawmakers appeared to speed up yesterday's
voting. For the first time, the state authorized early voting, which began
Oct. 21, reducing yesterday's waiting time for voters, who faced a long and
complex ballot. In Miami-Dade County alone, more than 100,000 voters took
advantage of the early voting option before the polls opened yesterday.
The early voting "seems to have helped by taking the pressure off of local
officials," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way,
who was in South Florida to observe the balloting yesterday. "The early
balloting helped considerably."
"Things are definitely better than they were on September 10," Neas added.
"The problems seem to be episodic rather than systemic."
Jim Dyke, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, concurred.
"Generally, it's going fairly well," he said. "It sounds like some specific
cases in specific places, and people are having to wait to vote in a lot of
places, but maybe that's because lots of people are voting, and we think
that's a good thing."
Last month, Congress enacted and President Bush signed legislation to
overhaul election systems throughout the nation. That measure authorized
$3.86 billion to help states buy modern voting equipment and make other
changes, including the creation of statewide, computerized voter databases.
It also mandated other steps in voter registration and voting procedures.
But most of the federally mandated changes will not take effect until 2004
or 2006. While a few states such as Florida, Georgia and Maryland enacted
broad revisions of their election systems, in most parts of the country,
yesterday's voting took place under the same conditions as it did two years
ago."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...anguage=printer
I'm sure that that many mysterious malfunctions just happened at the same time when Accenture already gave them the contract, and there's a proven number of hackers who can alter the results......Sure thing..no, obviously this election was the furthest thing from smooth there is....