New Jersey: Machine glitch on Sequoia Advantage leads to election recount in Wallington | NorthJersey.com

There will be a recount in the Wallington Council election. Wallington council candidate Kevin O’Reilly petitioned the Superior Court of Bergen County for a recount after he ran for a seat on the council and lost by a margin of 21 votes to Councilman-Elect Roman Kruk. Kruk received 1,017 votes to O’Reilly’s 996.

O’Reilly petitioned the court on Nov. 28 for a recount due to a machine glitch that occurred in Wallington District Number Three. On the night of the election, one of the voting machines located at the Park Row Firehouse didn’t print out the voting results due to the machine breaking down. To make up for the broken machine, the votes were counted by hand and verbal consent. After hearing his case for the recount, the court ruled due to the mistake in the voting machine, a recount is in order that will take place on Dec. 8.

New Jersey: Vote devices in New Jersey counties re-evaluated | Courier-Post

In the middle of a vast warehouse of Gloucester County voting machines last Wednesday, Gary Plummer replaced chips and resealed some of the 520 voting devices. Plummer’s Medford-based Election Support & Services Inc. has been contracted by several New Jersey counties — including Burlington and Camden — to help them comply with a controversial Superior Court order.

In February 2010, Judge Linda Feinberg ruled New Jersey’s11,000 voting machines be disconnected from the Internet and re-evaluated by a panel of experts, and that anyone who works with or on voting machines be subject to a criminal background check.

Feinberg’s order is being appealed by Rutgers University’s Constitutional Litigation Clinic and the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action, neither of which believes the court order goes far enough.

New Jersey: Judge wants expert witness, voting machine docs in Fairfield case | NJ.com

On its face, the voting irregularities stemming from Primary Election day in Fairfield Township looked like a simple switch-up. Democratic Executive Committee candidates Ernest and Cynthia Zirkle questioned the total votes they received. Upon research, it became clear they weren’t alone in doubting touch-screen Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machines.

Superior Court Judge David E. Krell ruled Monday the Cumberland County Board of Elections must make available a number of documents tied to the voting machine used on June 7.

“The voting machine isn’t going to tell you anything,” said Krell of inspecting the Sequoia machine used at the polling place. However, the associated documentation produced by the machine during the programming process was of interest to him.

New Jersey: “Human error” found in Fairfield New Jersey election results | NJ.com

A supposed malfunction of the problematic and much-debated Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machines is being chalked up to human error. Results from Primary Election day last month puzzled two candidates who expected the exact opposite. Less than a month later, there’s a line in the sand being drawn between a second election and inspection of the voting machine itself.

“On Election Day, the votes cast for Candidates Vivian and Mark Henry registered for Candidates Cynthia and Ernest Zirkle, respectively,” read a statement addressed to all affected by the Democratic County Committee election in Fairfield.

According to documents provided to The News, Cumberland County Board of Elections Director Lizbeth Hernandez takes responsibility and regrets a pre-election programming error. Attached to a legal petition filed by the Zirkles were 28 affidavits from voters swearing they supported the two candidates. Those 28 votes of the 43 total cast on June 7 make up the majority.

New Jersey: Voting machine fears hit home in Cumberland County | NJ.com

It’s been a while since concerns about the reliability of voting machines made news. It was a hot topic in the early 2000s, as worries over flimsy punchcard ballots (Remember the hanging chads?) gave way to concern about the reliability of electronic voting machines.

Electronic voting machines are the standard these days, but the lingering questions about reliability bubbled back to the surface locally this week with questions over a recent contest in Fairfield.

The race for Democratic executive committee featured Cindy and Ernie Zirkle against Vivian and Mark Henry. The Zirkles lost, according to the official tally, with Cindy getting 10 votes and Ernie a mere 9. Oddly, 28 Fairfield residents have signed affidavits declaring that they cast votes for the Zirkles.

The Sequoia AVC Advantage Direct-Recording Electronic Voting Machine was not operating properly, according to a petition filed by the Zirkles’ attorney.

New Jersey: Fairfield candidates contest election results, blaming touch-screen machines | NJ.com

Fewer than 50 people stepped up to a single Sequoia touch-screen voting machine on Primary Election day. Admittedly, that’s a low voter turnout total but apparently enough to cause controversy. Due to the alleged unreliability of that brand of touch-screen voting machines, two candidates want the results voided and a recount or new election held.

Current Deputy Mayor Ernest Zirkle received nine votes and resident Cynthia Zirkle got 10. What’s more, 28 Fairfield residents who voted in the early June primary election have signed affidavits that state they voted for the Zirkles. So, sore losers or the fallibility of a much-discussed modern machine? It would seem to be the latter.

New Jersey: Troublesome voting machine cartridge from East Hanover New Jersey likely to decide Morris freeholder race – Sequoia Advantage DRE | dailyrecord.com

A vote cartridge from East Hanover that is expected to be read today may reveal whether Republican Freeholder incumbent Margaret Nordstrom or challenger William “Hank” Lyon won the primary nomination Tuesday night.

As of this morning Lyon, a resident of the Towaco section of Montville who works for his familys restaurant business, Qdoba Mexican Grill, had a six-vote lead over Nordstrom, a freeholder since 1999.

The unofficial tallies are Lyon with 12,234 votes and Nordstrom with 12, 228 votes. But one vote cartridge in East Hanover could not be read last night so county election officials today got a court order from Superior Court Assignment Judge Thomas Weisenbeck to have the cartridge removed from the voting machine and brought to the Morris County Clerks office where it will be read and recorded by witnesses.