Daily Voting News For August 21, 2008
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
This past March, a Butler Co Ohio election official was examining the database from the just held primary. The official
found a problem he was not looking for. It seems that two memory cards had not been downloaded even though the system
had reported that it was. 150 votes were affected. That revelation led to an inspection of the system and a
pronouncement by Premier/Diebold that there was a problem with the interactivity between the GEMS software and
anti-virus software. This problem has led to a lawsuit and counter-suit. Recently SoS staff and Premier/Diebold staff
went to Butler Co to look closer at the software in question. Today it was announced that Premier has admitted that
their GEMS software has a programming error and that this error goes back over ten years worth of software. Of course,
they make the highly implausible claim that no votes were lost during all that time. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer
Brunner also has said that no votes were lost in Ohio. However, Brunner ignores the fact that the problem has been on
the machines for years and just because they found the problem in March does not mean the problem did not affect
elections in previous years....
Featured - National: Ohio Voting Machines Contained Programming Error That Dropped Votes LINK
National: Company acknowledges voting machine error LINK
National: VIDEO: Lou Dobbs Covers VotersUnite's Report on Private Vendors Undermining Our Public Elections LINK
National: Report: Running of elections being outsourced to private companies LINK
National: States rush to dump touch-screen voting systems LINK
National: Vote fraud, crumbling democracy's bedrock LINK
Alabama: ACLU defends voting rights for ex-felon in Alabama LINK
Colorado: Arapahoe County - ArapCo voting machines forced into an early retirement LINK
Connecticut: Editorial - Getting ready: Connecticut will audit local primary results LINK
Iowa: Scott County Auditor’s office leads training LINK
Massachusetts: Marlborough - City looks to improve voting for disabled residents LINK
North Carolina: Edgecombe County - Elections board cautious on extra voting site LINK
Nevada: Nye County - DeCanio questions primary vote LINK
Ohio: Ohio Secretary of State Ends Voting Machine 'Sleepovers' LINK
Ohio: Company acknowledges Ohio voting machine error LINK
Ohio: E-Vote: Ohio Counties Move To Secure Voting Machine Delivery LINK
Ohio: Auglaize County - Location change to secure votes LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga elections to present new voting system Nov. 4 LINK
Pennsylvania: Clarion County - County’s league of women voters seeks incidents of voting problems LINK
West Virginia: Editorial - Panic and haste make for waste LINK
**"Daily Voting News" is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and
voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in "Daily Voting News"
may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or Scoop.**
*************
John Gideon
Co-Executive Director
VotersUnite.Org
www.votersunite.org
"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory
democracy." The Creekside Declaration March 22, 2008