Report: E-voting woes could stall S.F. election tally

Glitches in touch-screen electronic voting machines without paper trails tend to rack up the most attention these days. But an irregularity over ballots marked by hand and scanned by a computer like standardized tests--known as the "optical-scan" approach--is poised to create a snafu in upcoming mayoral elections in San Francisco.

Illustration of an ES&S optical-scan ballot

(Credit: California Secretary of State)

According to a San Francisco Chronicle report on Wednesday, there's concern among state officials that "less-sensitive" scanning machines at polling places across the California city won't be able to pick up ballots marked with anything other than a No. 2 pencil or a special pen provided by the voting machine manufacturer, Election Systems & Software (ES&S).

For that reason, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen has decreed that the ballots cast during the election on Nov. 6 can only be counted using machines at the election headquarters--which, according to the city's election chief, officials will only be able to count about 10,000 ballots each day.

Considering more than 270,000 votes were cast in the last mayoral election, the special process could delay release of a final tally by weeks.

The latest news could prove a wake-up call for folks like Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who have sung the praises of optical-scan systems because of the paper trail they leave behind. As the situation in San Francisco illustrates, even those machines aren't foolproof and beg for robust audits afterward.

Bowen's move is part of an ongoing dispute with ES&S over the reliability of its machines, according to the Chronicle. In late August, she issued a statement suggesting ES&S had misled four California counties and San Francisco into buying nearly 1,000 machines that hadn't been certified in the state.

She reportedly sent a letter to the Omaha, Neb.-based firm last week that accused the company of failing to fix problems that have been flagged in the past. Earlier this year, Bowen commissioned a top-to-bottom review of the state's voting systems and, displeased with the findings, ultimately imposed new conditions on all machines used in California precincts.

[bain411]

What system isn't foolproof?

If the machines are so slow, they can always be counted by hand (heaven forbid).

The point of optical scanners is that the results are independently verifiable, and their counting tends to be dramatically more accurate than systems like punch cards.

[Jadefa]

Anything to let non-citizens & felons vote

This is just another ploy to undermine secure voting. When it was the "hanging chads" paper ballots were not good enough. Now electronic voting is not good enough. Bottom line, Democrats won't be happy until they can get the votes of every illegal voter in this dying nation.

[Dalkorian]

what's the problem again?

In my precinct they give you the pen to use along with the ballot.
The machines have no problem reading the marks made by the
supplied pen. Recounts could take time, but when has that not
been the case?

I just don't see the problem so far, I believe these optical scan
machines are the best bet of the lot. They tally the votes, but they
also have the ballot I marked inside them for verification.

[fafafooey]

Somehow it will be Bush's Fault

Even though San Fran and California in general is an almost 100% Democrat-run fiefdom, I'm sure when it all gets screwed up the kooks will just blame George Bush and the Iraq war, and go back go feeling superior about themselves and hugging trees and bugs.

[Stating]

Newsom's Running Uncontested Anyway

For all practical purposes Gavin Newsom is running uncontested for Mayor. A 27 day delay in counting won't make any difference.

The bigger story is why the dufus state workers didn't do their homework and choose the right voting technology. I'd like to see a report on how many junkets these "deciders" made to out-of-state vacation spots while they were "doing their homework". What a crock of sh*t.