Suspicious voting machines in Georgia

[southernhybrid]

http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-voting-machine-suspected-flipping-presidential-votes/woKEUgpDDEyaw9o4J318XJ/

ORIGINAL STORY: A voting machine in Bryan County that appeared to be “flipping” some Georgia voters’ picks for president has been removed from service, after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the problem to state elections officials.

A voter who experienced a problem while early voting contacted the AJC, saying it took three tries Tuesday on a machine at the county’s administration complex in Richmond Hill before it correctly recorded his choice of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

He said on the first two tries, he initially selected Clinton but the touchscreen on the machine then changed to show his selection as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — which he canceled before trying again. He said his wife had a similar experience on the same machine.

The voter requested that the AJC not publish his name.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office has opened an investigation into what state officials said was isolated incident.

“We are confident that machines are not ‘flipping’ voters,” said David B. Dove, the office’s chief of staff and legal counsel. “It appears with this particular machine that the county did not properly conduct logic and accuracy testing on this unit. That test ensures the geographic areas on the unit’s screen corresponds to the underlying ballot format. This testing is required by state law.”

Hopefully, this is just a minor problem limited to a few voting machines that may not have been properly calibrated, but considering the high emotions and weirdness in this election, it does make one wonder. I voted last week without any problems. I checked my ballot very carefully before casting it.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

You would think they would do a better job of testing the calibration before putting the machines in use but I suspect there's a large component of assuming it's fine. After all, whether you actually test it or not isn't obvious unless you miss a failure.

 

[credoconsolans]

http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-voting-machine-suspected-flipping-presidential-votes/woKEUgpDDEyaw9o4J318XJ/

ORIGINAL STORY: A voting machine in Bryan County that appeared to be “flipping” some Georgia voters’ picks for president has been removed from service, after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the problem to state elections officials.

A voter who experienced a problem while early voting contacted the AJC, saying it took three tries Tuesday on a machine at the county’s administration complex in Richmond Hill before it correctly recorded his choice of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

He said on the first two tries, he initially selected Clinton but the touchscreen on the machine then changed to show his selection as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — which he canceled before trying again. He said his wife had a similar experience on the same machine.

The voter requested that the AJC not publish his name.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office has opened an investigation into what state officials said was isolated incident.

“We are confident that machines are not ‘flipping’ voters,” said David B. Dove, the office’s chief of staff and legal counsel. “It appears with this particular machine that the county did not properly conduct logic and accuracy testing on this unit. That test ensures the geographic areas on the unit’s screen corresponds to the underlying ballot format. This testing is required by state law.”

Hopefully, this is just a minor problem limited to a few voting machines that may not have been properly calibrated, but considering the high emotions and weirdness in this election, it does make one wonder. I voted last week without any problems. I checked my ballot very carefully before casting it.

Apparently a normal if not common problem. A few days ago, an 82 year old woman in Texas, voting straight ticket Republican said her selection 'flipped' to Hillary Clinton. She caught it and had to correct it.

The pollers were blase about it. They said the error happened BEFORE she submitted her vote, which gave her time to correct it. Hence, not a problem.

 

[whichphilosophy]

If a machine has to be calibrated it suggests (not knowing how this works) that it is possible to calibrate it to flip. What happened to electronic technology where a person can indicate who they vote for, and press to confirm??

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If a machine has to be calibrated it suggests (not knowing how this works) that it is possible to calibrate it to flip. What happened to electronic technology where a person can indicate who they vote for, and press to confirm??

Or just use a damn paper ballot.

 

[whichphilosophy]

If a machine has to be calibrated it suggests (not knowing how this works) that it is possible to calibrate it to flip. What happened to electronic technology where a person can indicate who they vote for, and press to confirm??

Or just use a damn paper ballot.

I think the introduction of paper ballot technology could solve the problem.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

If a machine has to be calibrated it suggests (not knowing how this works) that it is possible to calibrate it to flip. What happened to electronic technology where a person can indicate who they vote for, and press to confirm??

You touch the screen, your vote lights up, then you go on to the next page. It's not a case of "flipping", but the calibration being off on the touch sensors and it sees you touching somewhere other than where you really were. You push one thing, something else registers. Or you push one thing, it registers but your finger moves a little bit and you were right on the dividing line and it moves to another candidate.

 

[Elixir]

Or just use a damn paper ballot.

I think the introduction of paper ballot technology could solve the problem.

Republicans would howl. Paper ballots would be beyond the reach of Uncle Vlad.