'Perilously' Outdated Voting Machines Threaten 2016 Election, Report Finds

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/09/15/perilously-outdated-voting-machines-threaten-2016-election-report-finds

Electronic voting machines in 43 states are at least a decade old, "perilously close to the end of most systems' expected lifespan," and could pose a risk to the 2016 election, a new study from the the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law finds.

After a 10 month probe that included interviews with over 100 election officials and experts in every state, the investigators concluded that the threat also extends to "significant percentages of machines" in swing states including Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.

Entitled America's Voting Machines at Risk, the study warns: "Old voting equipment increases the risk of failures and crashes—which can lead to long lines and lost votes on Election Day—and problems only get worse the longer we wait."

The warning evokes the "hanging chads" scandal that swept George W. Bush into the presidency in 2000 despite the fact that he lost the nationwide popular vote. While the debacle prompted Congress to appropriate $2 billion towards electronic voting systems, that equipment is now quickly becoming outdated, the report warns.

"Technology has changed dramatically in the last decade," said Christopher Famighetti, co-author of the report, in a statement. "Several recent innovations show it’s possible to move toward more affordable and flexible voting machines. States must develop plans to deal with aging machines before 2016, and invest in the next generation of machines for future elections to come."

Forty-three states are using machines that will be at least 10 years old during next year's election, the report states. Meanwhile, 14 states will be using machines that will be more than 15 years old.

[PoliticAverse]

1. "more affordable and flexible voting machines" - also "more hackable?"

Paper ballots can be faster and cheaper than machines except for the counting part and it can
be argued that the genuine paper trail is an advantage there.

[eridani]

2. Paper ballots can be scanned and audited.

Scanning technology is mature, and with sufficient hand count auditing can work well for complex ballots. Touch screens are fine as an interface, IMO, but should never be used for tabulation.

[DetlefK]

3. Compare this to the german system:

For the size: The ballot is about 8 inch wide.



You get the ballot and an envelope.
You enter the booth.
You mark your votes with a coolie-head. (Germany has a Two-vote-system: One local vote for your representative of choice and one national vote for your party of choice.)
You fold the ballot and put it in the envelope.
You leave the booth and put the envelope in the urn.

Once the election-office has closed (7 PM), staff counts the votes by hand. Any citizen is free to stay and witness the count. (Need a recount? Somebody botched something? No problem, the heap of ballots is still there.)

The first results are typically in by 7:15 PM, the final results are in by 8 PM.

[eridani]

5. Rather convenient that they don't have school board levies, ballot initiatives, sewer commissioner

races, county council contests, state legislative district races on the same ballot, no? Not to mention no such thing as party slates here--you have to consider each individual candidate. It's just ridiculous to even consider handcounting King County ballots--3 congressional districes, 17 state legislative districts, some of which overlap into neighboring counties, 39 cities, hundreds of special assessment districts, etc.

[Stevepol]

10. Some might be interested in why Germany OUTLAWED electronic vote counting.

Here's an article about it. There were only a few mentions of it in the M$M in the US. The main reason given by the court was that unless the average voter can understand how the vote is verified so he/she trust the process, there can't be a true democracy. The decision came in 2009, not too long ago.

This is from the article: "The twin requirements, of constitutional magnitude, of no "specialized technical knowledge" being required for citizens, combined with the constitutional requirement of a publicly observed count as a practical matter make secret vote counting on computers impossible as the primary means of counting. Nor will a paper trail suffice, said the Court, according to reports about the ruling from European media linked below."



Here's the link to the article:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Germany-bans-computerized-by-Paul-Lehto-090303-583.html

[merrily]

4. Why does this story make me feel as though a stolen election is already being planned?

And, once again, my "thanks" a lot 2007 to 2011 Congress for not dealing with this issue* after Democrats complained the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections had been stolen. In fact, thanks to every Congress for not at least trying to deal with this issue.


*No, Waxman holding hearings that established clearly that voting machines were easy to rig, then doing nothing, is not dealing with the issue.

[elehhhhna]

6. "voter verified paper ballot as the ballot of record"

We must demand this. Andy Stephenson made me repeat this until it was permanently engraved on my brain. Love you Andy. I know you're watching.

[elehhhhna]

7. There is no precinct in the U.S. with more than 2000 voters.

And we know turnout is what? Half maybe? WTF do we need vapor ballots for, then? Efficiency my a$$.

[Hortensis]

8. Voter verified paper ballot as the ballot of record!

[eridani]

9. Agreed. But I don't see a problem with scanning, provided that the audit trail is--

--adequate.