A small (we hope) problem with voting machines
A couple folks have sent me this story and others like it from Ohio in recent days.
The main thrust is this: A bunch of memory cards that are used as part of ES&S's optical scan voting equipment malfunctioned when tested in Ohio.
ES&S is the lone vendor of voting equipment here in North Carolina. So, one might ask, are the same problems happening here.
First off, this is an issued with the optical scan machines - those where voters mark their choice down on paper and then those papers are counted by an automated scanner. The Direct Record machines, the ones where you plug you mark your choice on a little computer screen, are not affected by this particular issue.
Different counties are using different equipment. See the SBOE's list of who is running what by clicking here.
In the News & Record's greater coverage area, only Rockingham and Randolph counties use the optical scan machines.
Randolph County's election folks were out today when I called.
In Rockingham County, Deputy Election Director Denise Armstrong told me that her office had not tested the equipment locally. However, she said that it had undergone testing at a state warehouse in Goldsboro.
The state election folks haven't gotten back to me yet, but the folks at ES&S did.
ES&S Spokeswoman Jill Friedman said that the malfunction described in Ohio had to do with some faulty PCMCIA memory cards. Laptop computer users may recognize them as the same size and shape as their modem cards.
In the case of the voting machines, they're used to store vote counting data.
ES&S doesn't make the cards themselves, but buys them from a third party. Well, that third party shipped ES&S a bad batch. The main problem has to do with a tiny battery used in the circuitry not performing up to snuff.
So are any of them here?
Maybe.
Friedman said that none of the cards shipped to Rockingham and Randolph were part of the affected batch. She said it was unclear how big the affected batch might be and declined to put a number on it.
She was able to say about 30 cards shipped to three different counties in North Carolina were affected. Those counties were: Wake, Durham and Forsyth Counties.
"In each of those instances, we're working to acquire the cards and replace them," Friedman said.
She said that none of the cards in North Carolina had tested as bad, but they're being replaced out of an abundance of caution.
I'll update this post if and when I hear more.
Update: State Board of Elections Deputy Director Johnnie McLean got back to me today (3/15). Her account matched up with what ES&S told me yesterday.
She said that the all voting machines go through two levels of testing before they are put into action during an election. One level happens at the state's Goldsboro warehouse and then they are tested again by the counties that are to use them.
Comments (1)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
I think it important to note that -
In the past, we found out about problems with voting machines or programming at election time.
There were always several problems with the voting machines or ballots that could have been
prevented, if we had been forwarned.
Now, we are given notice of issues before they become problems.
That is good business practice and that is good election practice.
That is partly due to the requirements of the Public Confidence in Elections Act,
and in likewise due to good business practices on the part of the vendor.
We now have a more transparent election process, from beginning to end.
Posted on March 17, 2006 9:11 AM