Daily Voting News For August 29, 2008
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
Last week Premier/Diebold admitted that their GEMS software used in as many as 34 states may have failed any number of
times over the last 10 years. The admission comes from their actions in Ohio but no jurisdiction in any of the 33 other
states can truly say they have not had the same problem but just never caught it. Then this week the same company had to
admit that their software used in Florida has more problems, on top of the earlier admission. We also learned that their
high-speed optical scan machines failed in Sarasota Co. to a point where Premier/Diebold is loaning the county older
machines in hopes of not having problems in November. All of these problems are on the voting system that is presently
awaiting EAC certification. All of these problems are forcing a change to that voting system. Now the vendors are
working hard to lobby congress to force the EAC to go back to the old NASED type system. The vendors don’t want the test
labs to be forced to actually test their systems and report problems. The vendors want a rubber stamp. In no other
industry do the vendors have so much power over the process of testing and approval. They should never have that power
when it comes to our elections. If they can’t put out a product that they can stand-behind and be proud of then they
need to get out of the business. Have a safe and sane Labor Day weekend....
National: E-Vote Vendor Admits Decade of Flaws LINK
Florida: Opinion - Meet the new flaws
More election system glitches shake voters' confidence LINK
Florida: Brevard County - Our view: Fixing the snafu
Pressure is on Brevard elections chief to solve vote-counting problem LINK
Florida: Editorial: Indian River County elections snafu troubling; further investigation needed LINK
Florida: Indian River County - 'Human error' blamed for election double-count LINK
Ohio: Butler County - County joins voting machine lawsuit LINK
Ohio: Butler Co. joins voting-machine suit LINK
Ohio: Butler County - County joining Ohio suit over voting machines LINK
Ohio: Lucas County Board of Elections looks at new vote-count site LINK
Ohio: Mahoning County - No proof of black vote suppression in Y’town LINK
Utah: Salt Lake County - Switch to electronic voting may cause long lines 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.**
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John Gideon
Co-Executive Director
VotersUnite.Org
www.votersunite.org
"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory
democracy." The Creekside Declaration March 22, 2008