Election Unspun Oct 28 - Vote Switching At Voting Machines

LEDE:  As early voting is under way, Voters around the country have complained of 'vote switching', where the machine logs different candidate from the voters' choice. 

In Nashville Tennessee, Patricia Earnhardt, attempted to early vote. On her  electronic touch screen voting machine, she tried to vote for Barack Obama - but her vote didn't register. Earnhardt requested the help of a poll worker, who tried to high light the Obama button but nothing happened. Finally, the machine chose selected Green Party Candidate Cynthia McKinney, whose name was located 5 rows below Obama's.  A poll worker helped her start the process over and her vote finally registered Barack Obama.

Earnhardt's is not alone in her voting experience.  Similar problems have arisen in at least four counties in West Virginia. The same type of voting machine was used, Electronic Systems & Software, or ES&S machines. ES&S is the subject of multiple lawsuits regarding their voting equipment.  At least two voters in a Texas county have also complained that the voting machine switched votes from the Democratic to the Republican candidate.

John Greenbaum is Director of the Voting Rights Project with the Lawyers Committee on Civil rights. The Voting Rights Project is running a non-partisan voter hotline 866-OUR-VOTE.  Election protection groups are logging and responding to problems at the voting place. Greembaum says that in the early voting stages, they have received calls about vote switching, malfunctioning machines.

CUT: "Keep in mind that most jurisdictions either don't have an early voting process or in early voting they only have a few precincts open. So I think it's notable that we're getting these reports now even though there are very few places where voting is going on."

David Dill is a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. 

CUT: "We don't really know why vote switching happens. There are some theories about it but it depends on the machine, one of which is that it's a screen calibration error so the touch screen is different than the display."

Dill says there has been no adequate investigation into the causes of vote switching which is a difficult, time-consuming, resource-heavy under-taking.  Independent groups and individuals have tried. The government and political parties have not taken up the task.  and Election systems are de-centralized. States are not required to report problems to the arm of the federal government that oversees voting, the Election Assistance Commission.

The electronic touch screen voting machines most concerning to election integrity advocates are the ones with no paper trail.

CUT: "Voters need to be able to prove that their vote was recorded correctly and election officials need a way to prove that all the votes were counted correctly. Paperless machines don't provide a way to do that."

Dave Wagner is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at University of California Berkley.

"I think the concerns bout vote switching highlight the need for a tangible record that voters can verify."

A report released earlier this month by Election Data Services, a political consulting firm, reveals that fewer people will vote on electronic touch screen voting machines as states are replacing them with optical scan machines that use a paper ballot.  In 2008, 32 percent of voters will use them compared to 37  percent in the 2006 election. For the first time since their debut in the 1980's less people vote on the paperless touch screens than the previous election. 

INTERVIEW

Steven Rosenfeld is a fellow with the progressive news site Alternet. He says the key to election day is voter awareness.