Verified Voting Blog: Ohio – Improved but Still a Concern

Ohio’s status as a large battleground state means that problems in Ohio could have a significant impact nationwide. Although Ohio is in better shape than a number of states because there are no paperless voting machines,The major concern is that about half the counties use Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines, though they are equipped with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) printers. In theory a VVPAT is supposed to accurately represent the choices the voter makes with the touch screen machine. In practice, VVPATs can be difficult and even confusing to read. Tests have shown that most voters do not bother to check the VVPAT.  Therefore, VVPATs offer only limited protection against election theft. Someone wishing to steal an election could change both the electronic version of the voter’s choices and the VVPAT, while retaining the correct version on the DRE screen, so that the change would not be obvious to the voter.  If the voter happens to notice and void the VVPAT, election rigging software could print and store in memory the voter’s correct choices. That way, the VVPAT results would match the electronic ones, even though the overall result was rigged.

The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly October 1-7 2012

Statistics show that votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth. Mashable considered the security concerns associated with internet voting and CBS Miami investigated the state of electronic voting in next month’s election. Alleged voter registration fraud in several States have again focused attention on GOP operative Nathan Sproul. Iowa Secretary of State Schultz was criticized for using Federal funding in his voter fraud investigation. A Federal Court has ruled that a citizenship checkbox must be removed from Michigan ballots, while a court in Ohio has ordered that in person early voting be available to all voters during the weekend before the election. Pennsylvania’s voter ID requirement was put on hold. A decision on a similar law in South Carolina is expected this week and the incumbent suffered an upset defeat in Georgia’s presidential election.