New voting system won't be glitch-free (trouble in MI)

[Bozita]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060804/POLITICS01/608040336

Friday, August 04, 2006

Decision 2006
New voting system won't be glitch-free

John Wisely / The Detroit News


Election officials across Metro Detroit say all votes will be counted in Tuesday's primary -- despite new federally mandated voting machines, not because of them.

Prompted by the "hanging chad" fiasco of the 2000 general election, Congress required hardware changes. But among the problems local officials blame on the new voting equipment:
Ballot jamming.
Incorrect or incomplete computer programming that renders machines unusable.
Printer and display screen failures.
Misdirected write-in ballots.
Machines accepting multiple ballots but counting only one.


"It's a total mess," said Plymouth City Clerk Linda Langmesser. She had to reschedule a required public accuracy test after the equipment manufacturer, Election Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., couldn't provide the proper computer programming in time.

The problems have aggravated clerks across the state as they rush to comply with laws designed to improve voting and counting.

more...

[Judi Lynn]

1. Good grief, it's the system once owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel's Voting Machines
Submitted by Srinu Sonti on July 20, 2006 - 1:19pm.



~snip~
Hagel was and is a current shareholder in McCarthy Group Inc. of Omaha, whose portfolio includes Election Systems and Software Inc. Before his 1996 election to the Senate, Hagel was president of McCarthy and Co. (Lincoln Journal Star, 5/9/05)

As late as 1995, Hagel was the chairman of a Nebraska electronic voting machine maker, American Information Systems, which was renamed Election Systems and Software in 1997. It was reported that Hagel failed to mention his financial ties to ES&S on his Senate disclosure form, an omission that drew interest from the Senate Ethics Committee. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/28/03)

Hagel’s 1996 run for the Senate left him with not one, but two underdog victories, defeating Don Stenberg in the primary and Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson. Both of his opponents had solid, consistent leads in the polls up until Election Day. (University Wire, 7/14/05) That year, Hagel became the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska, winning easily and even carrying black districts that never had voted Republican. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/28/03) Of note, the company’s machines counted 85 percent of the votes in the Nebraska election. (Morning Call, 9/22/04)

ES&S claims to have counted 56% of the vote in the last four presidential elections. Bob and Todd Urosevich founded its predecessor, AIS, in the 1980's. Bob is now president of Diebold-Global, while brother Todd is a vice president at ES&S. Business Records Corp., which was merged with AIS to become ES&S, was partially owned by Cronus, a company that seems to have a lot of connections to the infamous Hunt brothers from Texas, as well as other individuals and entities, including Rothschild, Inc. Right wing Republicans Howard Ahmanson (who financed AIS) and Nelson Bunker Hunt have both heavily contributed to The Chalcedon Institute, an organization that mandates Christian "dominion" over the world. (PR Newswire, 10/30/02)
(snip/)

http://www.senatemajority.com/chuck_hagels_voting_machines

[zbdent]

2. Ever notice that Repukes look at anything a Dem proposes and

say that "Dems think this will solve all the problems!", meaning that anything that a Democrat comes up with has to be perfect and address every aspect of something ... and virtually two minutes later, Repukes suggest essentially the same thing (if it actually was good legislation) except for a few minor details and then say "Well, you have to realize, it's not perfect ..."