An e-voting machine that is to be used for the presidential election this year has been found to have “anomalies” such as failing to record votes or logging the wrong vote and freezing, according to a government report. The Formal Investigative Report issued late last month by the Electronic Assistance Commission (EAC), which certifies electronic voting equipment, issued a notice of noncompliance for the DS200 optical scanning device manufactured by Electronic Systems & Software (ES&S), but did not decertify the machine.
The report found three anomalies:
1. Intermittent screen freezes, system lockups, and shutdowns that prevent the voting system from operating in the manner in which it was designed
2. Failure to log all normal and abnormal voting system events
3. Skewing of the ballot, resulting in a negative effect on system accuracy
Specifically, the DS200 failed in some cases to record when the touch screen was calibrated or the system was powered on or off, failed to read votes correctly when a ballot was inserted at an angle, and accepted a voted ballot without recording the ballot on its internal counter and without recording the marks, according to the report.
The machines are scheduled to be used in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, according to an EAC map. However ES&S says the version referenced in the EAC report is used only in Ohio and Wisconsin, according to Computerworld.
ES&S said in a statement to Computerworld that it has fixed the problems. “All reported issues have been addressed in a new version of software, Unity 3.4.0.0, which, upon certification, will be made available to every jurisdiction that currently uses Unity 3.2.0.0,” ES&S said.
Full Article: E-ballot device for presidential vote has bugs, report confirms | InSecurity Complex – CNET News.