Verified Voting Blog: Voting Machine Expert Offers Insights on North Carolina “Vote-Flipping”

Douglas Jones is a voting technology expert on the computer science faculty at the University of Iowa who has done extensive study of the ES&S iVotronic direct recording voting machine. In this interview he offers his insights on reports of straight-party voting problems on iVotronics in multiple North Carolina counties.

Q: Are you familiar with this type of problem?

DJ: There have been sporadic reports of “vote flipping” since the iVotronic came into widespread use, but there has never been a good explanation, and I am not convinced that there is just one problem. It may be that several different problems are being confused. In 2004, I was involved in assessing the iVotronic voting machines used in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and one thing I investigated was the possible cause of reports of “vote flipping”. My report is available  online (see particularly section 11, pages 20 to 23.)

Since writing that report, I have heard several reports from pollworkers and others who have observed voters who either touched the screen with two fingers or accidentally rested the thumb of one hand on the screen while voting with the other, causing their touches to be misinterpreted in exactly the way I described in that report.

The Voting News Daily: NC GOP sues over touch-screen problems. Beware bogus online ballots in CT, NH

USA Today: A Decade After Florida Fiasco,Voting Remains a Hodgepodge…Paperless e-voting a concern this election..Nearly 1 in 4 voters in Tuesday’s elections will use e-voting systems with no paper records..Voters in Connecticut & New Hampshire beware of bogus online ballots…N.Carolina’s GOP Party filed suit in fed court over touch-screen vote flipping…Internet voting ‘an electronic disaster’ in Stratford, Canada..If you have problems voting, call or tweet 866-OUR-VOTE…

All this and more in today’s voting news below…

CA: Ten Great Online Resources for California Voters
http://kimalex.blogspot.com/2010/10/ten-great-online-resources-for.html

CA: Fresno County ballots use wrong language for Prop. 23
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/10/prop-23-campaign-some-absentee.html
Hundreds of thousands of ballots printed in Fresno County use an incorrect ballot label to describe a statewide proposition to suspend the state’s greenhouse gas emissions law, election officials confirmed today.

CA: Investigators probe possible voter fraud; victim contacted again*
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/10/absentee-voting-even-when-he-doesnt-want-to.html BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A voter who says she was talked out of her mail-in ballot says she was contacted again. Meanwhile, investigators are probing the case of possible voter fraud.

The victim said teenagers came to her home on Tuesday, saying their “boss” sent them to pick up ballots.

CA: City May Experiment with an all Vote-By-Mail Election to Increase Voter Turnout
http://laist.com/2010/10/29/city_may_experiment_with_an_all_vot.php

CT: Warning: NO Internet Voting In CT – A Scam or just misleading calls to voters?
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/warning-no-internet-voting-in-ct-scam-or-just-misleading-calls-to-voters/ “People have been stopping into the office to express concern over telephone calls that they’ve received in which they are directd [sic] to a web site where they believe they’re being told they can vote online,” Weber told Patch.

GA: Debate over Georgia’s paperless e-voting process continues
http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia_elections_news/2010/10/29/debate-over-georgias-paperless-e-voting-process-continues/?cxntfid=blogs_georgia_elections_news

IL: Top Official Says DOJ Prepared To Sue States Over MOVE Act Even After Election Day, Takes Aim At IL GOP
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/10/28/top-official-says-doj-prepared-sue-states-over-move-act-even-after-election-day-takes-aim

IL: Some overseas, military absentee voters get extension to return ballots
http://gcn.com/articles/2010/11/01/overseas-voting.aspx

KS: Kobach, Biggs spar over voter registration records
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/oct/28/kobach-biggs-spar-over-voter-registration-records/
Kansas election officials cast doubt Thursday on Republican Kris Kobach’s claim to have evidence of possible voter fraud,

MD: Federal District Court in Maryland rules that rights of military voters to have their votes counted trumps Nov 12 ballot receipt deadline
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017675.html

MN: Anti-Voter Fraud Group Sues Over ‘I.D. Me’ Button Ban
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/anti-voter_fraud_group_sues_over_button_ban.php

NC: NC GOP sues election board over voting machines
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/NC-GOP-sues-election-board-over-voting-machines-106308978.html Republican Party officials say they have heard problems in a number of counties. They are demanding that election officials provide notice to all voters about problems, preserve all data and track all complaints.

NC GOP Files Suit Over ‘Widespread’ Touch-screen Failures, Votes Flipping to Dems
GOP attorney: ES&S iVotronic ‘systems should have been banned’
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8158 Officials: Just ‘isolated’ probs, ‘no different than every election’…[UPDATE 10/29/10, 12:22pm PT: The North Carolina Republican Party has now filed suit against the State Board of Elections “alleging that touch-screen machines are thwarting efforts by voters to cast Republican ballots,” according to AP’s brief coverage now here…]

NC: Craven County GOP Wants Answers
http://www.witn.com/stateregional/headlines/Craven_County_GOP_
Wants_Answers_106192848.html http://tinyurl.com/37v9m6n The Craven County Republican Party continues to express concern over touch-screen voting machines and the action taken against two poll workers who spoke to WITN.