The maker of Palm Beach County’s voting machines has told state officials its software did not cause the glitch that led to incorrect results being certified in two Wellington races, according to a letter from the company – a statement that starkly contrasts with Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher’s explanation for what happened. A “shortcoming” in the county’s vote-counting software allowed the error to go undetected, and the software did nothing to stop it, Dominion Voting Systems acknowledged. But the manufacturer disavowed responsibility for the error itself, saying, “it is clear that the mismatch was not the result of a ‘bug.’ ” Bucher has said the opposite. After the error was revealed March 19, she said the company had taken the blame and released a sharply worded press release that started with: “Technology fails.”
Dominion President John Poulos sent the letter to the state Division of Elections Wednesday. The state released it Friday afternoon. Bucher deepened her criticisms Friday, calling the implication that her staff could have caught the mistake “wholly unfactual.” In the future, she would tell them to do nothing differently, she said. “We did it exactly like we always do,” she said.
On a conference call with state officials, Dominion acknowledged its staff has seen similar errors before in internal testing, Bucher said. Asked if it had warned the state or the county about the problem, Dominion said it had not, Bucher said. The Palm Beach Post could not reach Dominion officials Friday. Bucher said she had not been able to reach representatives of the Denver-based company to object to the letter. Dominion took over the county’s contract when it bought Sequoia Voting Systems in 2010.
Full Article: Vote firm rebuts Bucher’s account of Wellington ballot snafu.