Sounds like someone is still fuming over an election.  Yes, fix the
problem and move on. 

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Michael Baier
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 10:22 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [HP3000-L] OT: What will he do next?

Again?
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1654590&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
Watchdog Group Questions Outcome of Florida's 2004 Presidential Election

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Feb 23, 2006 (AP)- An examination of Palm Beach
County's electronic voting machine records from the 2004 election found
possible tampering and tens of thousands of malfunctions and errors, a
watchdog group said Thursday. 

Bev Harris, founder of BlackBoxVoting.org, said the findings call into
question the outcome of the presidential race. But county officials and
the maker of the electronic voting machines strongly disputed that and
took issue with the findings. 

Voting problems would have had to have been widespread across the state
to make a difference. President Bush won Florida and its 27 electoral
votes by 381,000 votes in 2004. Overall, he defeated John Kerry by 286
to 252 electoral votes, with 270 needed for victory. 

BlackBoxVoting.org, which describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit
citizens group, said it found 70,000 instances in Palm Beach County of
cards getting stuck in the paperless ATM-like machines and that the
computers logged about 100,000 errors, including memory failures. 

Also, the hard drives crashed on some of the machines made by Oakland,
Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems, some machines apparently had to be
rebooted over and over, and 1,475 re-calibrations were performed on
Election Day on more than 4,300 units, Harris said. Re-calibrations are
done when a machine is malfunctioning, she said. 

"I actually think there's enough votes in play in Florida that it's
anybody's guess who actually won the presidential race," Harris added.
"But with that said, there's no way to tell who the votes should have
gone to." 

Palm Beach County and other parts of the country switched to electronic
equipment after the turbulent 2000 presidential election, when the
county's butterfly ballot confused some voters and led them to cast
their votes for third-party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Al Gore.
The Supreme Court halted a recount after 36 days and handed a 537-vote
victory to Bush. 

Palm Beach County election officials said the BlackBoxVoting.com
findings are flawed, and they blamed most of the errors on voters not
following proper procedures. 

"Their results are noteworthy for consideration, but in a majority of
instances they can be explained," said Arthur Anderson, the county's
elections supervisor. "All of these circumstances are valid reasons for
concern, but they do not on face value substantiate that the machines
are not reliable." 

Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle Shafer disputed the findings, saying the
company's machines worked properly. Sequoia's machines are used in five
Florida counties and in 21 states. 

"There was a fine election in November 2004," Shafer said. 

She said many of the errors in the computer logs could have resulted
from voters improperly inserting their user cards into the machines. The
remaining errors would not affect the vote results because each unit has
a backup system, she said. 

Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State, which
oversees elections, said she was not aware of the report and had no
comment. 

Harris said one machine showed that 112 votes were cast on Oct. 16, two
days before the start of early voting, a possible sign of tampering. She
said the group found evidence of tampering on more than 30 machines in
the county. 

However, Harris said it was impossible to determine what information was
altered or if votes were shifted among candidates. 

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