Georgia has the worst voting system in the US

[Rob E Dangerously]

from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

State gets 'F-minus' on voting machines

 

By JULIA MALONE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 09/12/04

 

WASHINGTON — With Election Day less than two months away, a conservative group rated Georgia's paperless touch-screen voting system the worst in the nation, with Florida and several other states not far ahead.

 

The Free Congress Foundation, a longtime fixture of the political right, warns in a new report that if the Nov. 2 vote totals are contested, the result could be a "fiasco," since so many states have installed electronic systems that have no paper ballots that can be recounted.

 

Georgia, the first state to install a paperless system in all counties, was graded "F-minus" based on the reliability of the equipment and its capacity for a "verifiable recount."

 

The foundation's "report card" also gave Florida a failing grade, in part because Palm Beach County has installed touch-screen machines to replace the infamous "butterfly" punch card ballots, which were blamed for the vote count debacle of the 2000 presidential race.

 

Overall, the group scored the overhaul of the nation's voting equipment a C-plus.

 

Nevada was credited with having the best system, using a touch-screen computer that prints out a paper ballot that is visible under glass for voters to check before each vote is cast. The paper ballots are retained as a backup if there are questions about the electronic count.

 

Kara Sinkule, spokeswoman for Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox, dismissed the group's critique as "a rehash of what's been in the news and on the Internet."

 

"Our system is more accurate today and more secure than it has ever been," she said.

 

Georgia officials have long argued that the $54 million touch-screen system is easy to use and popular with voters, despite some glitches when it debuted in November 2002. In Fulton County, for example, some machine totals were counted late because poll workers forgot to remove memory cards. But the election result was not affected.

 

Sinkule said the state would add printout devices if required but added, "Let's not rush to mandate a paper trail without federal standards in place."

 

Proposals to mandate printed ballots have stalled in the U.S. Congress as well as in the Georgia Legislature.

 

Even so, a number of lawmakers, citizen groups and computer experts continue to raise concerns about the new voting equipment.

 

Critics, including a group of Atlanta area activists known as Countthevote.org, have charged that the Diebold Election Systems software used in Georgia and elsewhere is vulnerable to hackers. The software company also has been heavily criticized in California, where some polling places opened late in the presidential primary because machines malfunctioned.

 

One group, Verified Voting Foundation, founded by Stanford University computer science professor David Dill, recently set up a national hotline (1-866-687-8683) to allow voters to report problems they see or experience on Election Day.

 

The hotline is part of a project run by several nonprofit groups — including People for the American Way Foundation and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law — to assist voters and monitor elections.

 

On Nov. 2, Verified Voting Foundation's Web site (http://www.verifiedvoting.org) will provide a map of the country displaying where problems are reported and describing the incidents, said Pamela Smith, spokeswoman for the group.

 

In a test run in Florida's primary election Aug. 31, the hotline received nearly 300 reports from voters who said they were given the wrong ballot, encountered machinery problems or had other issues in 14 counties, including Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach

 

Yeah.. who needs a paper ballot or any sort of verification in case of a recount.

 

What a bunch of friggin idiots in Georgia. Either they're going to get a wake up call when somebody does screw with the system, or that will happen and they won't care.

 

and worse than Florida.. ouch..

[bobobrazil1984]

the idea of a system with absolutely no post election verification method at ALL is lunacy.

[Guest Nanks]

So Georgia's going to be the key seat that wins Bush the election this year?

[kkktookmybabyaway]

Nah. GA is firmly in Bush's section.

 

Wonder if Ripper is going to get disenfranchised?...

[Guest CronoT]

It's Georgia. What did you expect? This is the state that took over 100 years to ratify the 15th and 16th Amendments, for Pete's sake.

[Rob E Dangerously]

you're confusing Georgia with Mississippi

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America]

Was Gaw-guh the state that didn't have Bush on the ballot until very recently (they changed the law to let the Republican party on the ballot since they had a late convention) or was that a different one?

[Guest CronoT]

you're confusing Georgia with Mississippi

You mean there's a difference?

 

Seriously, I don't see how there's much difference between the two, politically. But, I guess I got this one wrong. Oh well.

[Jobber of the Week]

Why in the hell would you need a recount in the case of a computer?

 

"Oh yeah, we're going to have a recount because we're not sure if the CPU was capable of adding numbers correctly."

[Guest MikeSC]

Why in the hell would you need a recount in the case of a computer?

 

"Oh yeah, we're going to have a recount because we're not sure if the CPU was capable of adding numbers correctly."

You know, that logic was ignored in 2000.

-=Mike

[Guest TJH]

Why don't you appoint an apolitical federal electoral commission to conduct elections, put in place a uniform voting system across the country, and take redistributions out of the hands of politicians who use them to serve their own ends?

 

In other words, do what Australia does.

[Jobber of the Week]

All the problems in Florida was related to registration and the ballot design.

 

Computers have been able to add together all the numbers from Column A and all the numbers from Column B since spreadsheets were invented. Good enough for government work.

[Guest MikeSC]

All the problems in Florida was related to registration and the ballot design.

According to the Dems, the problems were due to "Every vote not being counted" (ignoring the simple fact that all ballots are not votes).

Computers have been able to add together all the numbers from Column A and all the numbers from Column B since spreadsheets were invented. Good enough for government work.

Then why were hand recounts so vital in 2000, again?

Why don't you appoint an apolitical federal electoral commission to conduct elections, put in place a uniform voting system across the country, and take redistributions out of the hands of politicians who use them to serve their own ends?

 

In other words, do what Australia does.

Because the gov't has no right to do so.

-=Mike

[Rob E Dangerously]

I'd prefer some way to verify votes in a computerized system.

 

But, I guess if the computer tells us who won, then they won. You can't question the computer.

 

I'm sure they have to be working on the security for the systems.

[kkktookmybabyaway]

All the problems in Florida was related to registration and the ballot design.

I'd say they were related to stupid voters...

[Guest TJH]

Why don't you appoint an apolitical federal electoral commission to conduct elections, put in place a uniform voting system across the country, and take redistributions out of the hands of politicians who use them to serve their own ends?

 

In other words, do what Australia does.

Because the gov't has no right to do so.

-=Mike

Why not?

[sfaJack]

Because individual states run elections in the U.S. It's not a power of the federal government.

[Guest TJH]

Because individual states run elections in the U.S. It's not a power of the federal government.

That's stupid.