WATCHING THE COUNT

Brad Blog - We've been reporting on the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen voting machines which are flipping votes from Democratic candidates to others in, so far, at least four states. . . Unfortunately, it's not just the error-prone, hackable, wholly unverifiable iVotronics from ES&S which are failing. Error-prone, hackable and wholly unverifiable Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems made by Hart InterCivic, Diebold and Sequoia Voting Systems are also having the same problems across the country. And the Democrats, who have the most to lose, continue to do nothing about it. . .

We posted a video of a WV county clerk demonstrating the vote-flips on the ES&S iVotronic and suggesting that the problem was due to touch-screen calibration issues on the machine. The video then shows the clerk inserting a cartridge into the machine to recalibrate it, after which the machine still misrecords a vote.

We also pointed out that it doesn't matter what the screen (or even "paper trail" that some of them have) displays. The computer can record any vote it wants, any way it wants, despite what the voter is shown.

While recalibration has been ordered in many of these cases, there is no way that any touch-screen voting machine should ever have a cartridge inserted into it, for any reason, by anybody, after it's already been programmed for an election. That is the very moment these machines are the most vulnerable to malicious software and other forms of tampering and attack. That recalibration is being advised where these problems have occurred --- instead of complete removal from service, to be replaced by paper ballots --- is insane.

We have seen absolutely no sign that the DNC and Barack Obama attorneys have done anything to take appropriate action on these matters up until now. . .

Speaking of Diebold, this in on Tuesday from another part of Texas, El Paso County, as reported by the local NBC affiliate KTSM, NewsChannel 9: "Newschannel 9 received a complaint from one voter who says he tried to vote straight ticket Democrat. But when he reviewed his finished ballot he noticed that all votes were cast for Republicans.

"El Paso county election administrator Javier Chacon says the machines are user-friendly but mistakes can happen. Chacon says make sure you don't have anything hanging off your clothing or wrists that could inadvertently change your vote. If you want to be more precise you can ask for a stylus pen to cast your vote."

EFFI, Finland - A fully electronic voting system was piloted in the Finnish municipal . . . Electronic Frontier Finland had criticized the pilot program for years, recently releasing a report on its deficiencies. Today, the Ministry of Justice revealed that due to a usability issue, voting was prematurely aborted for 232 voters. The pilot system was in use in three municipalities; this amounts to about 2 per cent of the electoral roll. Seats in the municipal assemblies are often determined by margins of only a couple of votes.

It seems that the system required the voter to insert a smart card to identify the voter, type in their selected candidate number, then press "ok", check the candidate details on the screen, and then press "ok" again. Some voters did not press "ok" for the second time, but instead removed their smart card from the voting terminal prematurely, causing their ballots not to be cast.

A federal judge in Ohio says homeless voters can use their sleeping bench as their address and that provisional ballots can't be cancelled if the error was made by a poll worker.