Federal judges disallow Dallas County's use of voting machines

[sonias]

DMN 12/22/09
Federal judges disallow Dallas County's use of voting machines
A three-judge panel has ruled that Dallas County election officials violated federal law when they did not inform the Department of Justice about changes in the way straight-party votes are counted on electronic voting machines.

The judges determined that the county did not get proper approval from the Department of Justice to use the county's current machines. They granted an injunction requested by the Texas Democratic Party to halt use of the machines in Dallas until they get Justice Department clearance.

(snip)

"Given the likelihood that today's ruling will impact other Texas counties, it is now time for the secretary of state to stop defending the indefensible and require the manufacturers to address the serious defects in the way these machines count straight-ticket votes," Richie said. "Should the secretary of state refuse to act, the Texas Democratic Party will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure these machines count every citizen's vote accurately.

Randall Dillard, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, which oversees elections, said his office is studying the ruling and trying to determine how many counties use voting systems similar to Dallas'.

:bounce: :woohoo:

Sonia

[crispini]

1. I hope the voter registrar can address this.

Dallas County, IMO, has the most responsible use of voting machines-- we only vote on them during early voting and we vote on a paper ballot on election day. Voting on paper ballots during early voting would be really tough considering how many different ballot styles they have countywide. I hope that the registrar can work with the appropriate office and software vendors to get this addressed.

[sonias]

2. It's not just Dallas it's all the counties that use e-voting

And this should force the vendors' hands to fix them by properly programming them if they are going to be used.

My preference is still a paper ballot that you can print on demand i.e. all the ballot styles are programmed into the machine/printer. Then the voter gets the proper ballot for their pct, they mark it to vote it and then it gets scanned in optically for the count. In case of a re-count, you count the paper ballot.

Our Texas laws are not there to allow this however. :(

Sonia

[derby378]

3. You hit the nail on the head

And that is why it is so important to elect Democrats to the Texas House and Senate in 2010 - we need legislators who will outlaw the use of touchscreen machines except for disabled voters in conjunction with HAVA.

One citizen, one vote, one verifiable paper record. Damn, that sounds good.

[sonias]

4. I'm with you - we need more Democrats so we can fix the mess

And this district that Linda Harper-Brown won by a nose (Dist 105) is important to winning back the house.

We have a very good candidate running for that seat.

Loretta Haldenwang Files for House District 105


:kick:

Sonia

[WolverineDG]

6. And then there's Webb County

where last year, the Republican candidate for state senator sued the County & got a TRO effective during both early voting & then after another hearing, on election day, preventing the County from using the machines. The agreement allowed for one machine per polling station for the use of the disabled.

Almost all the polling stations ran out of paper ballots & almost no one voted on the machines (we learned our lesson in 2006).

dg

[Melissa G]

5. Woot!

:bounce::woohoo::bounce::woohoo::bounce::woohoo::bounce::woohoo::bounce::woohoo: