Florida may have big problem in Attorney General Race -e machine probs like Sarasota

[philb]

From VotersUnite web page:

Charlotte, Sumter, and Lee Counties. Excessive "undervotes" in the contest for state attorney general. 21%, 22%, and 18% respectively. Officials speculate that the contest was not obvious on the ES&S iVotronic screen, but wonder why voters didn't notice the undervote on the review screen. Story Archive
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-voteprobs1006nov10,0,4814311.story?page=1&coll=orl-news-headlines-state


Note: In other counties using the iVotronic (Broward, Miami-Dade), voters complained that the contest did not appear on their screens.

Voting problems hit 4 counties
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-voteprobs1006nov10,0,4814311.story?page=1&coll=orl-news-headlines-state

Broward, Miami-Dade counties and Fort Meyers. Over 100 voters complained that neither the attorney general nor the chief financial officer races appeared on their ballots on the ES&S iVotronic voting machines. Story http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/15965816.htm


Sarasota County had similar problem in Attorney General undervotes

In this one the Repub McCollum narrowly beat the Dem Campbell, which really surprised me.
I thought Campbell was a sure winner, given their past records.

[Bitwit1234]

1. ODD

Isn't it odd. If the republicans can't win they try to steal it -again.
And another odd fact, how come the machines never favor the democrat vote only the republican????

[philb]

2. I think you know the anwer to that last question.

But the electronic machines can be manipulated by anyone and any party that has access to them.
And as we see from Pennsylvania this year, the manipulation can cut both ways. Just depends who who is in charge.

We need to insist on transparent voting irregardless of who is SOE.

I think the company/contractor reps have generally more access and potential to affect results than the officials in many counties.

[philb]

20. Similar Ballot design flaws/bias found in Broward & Dade counties as was found in Sarasota D13

(Same ballot design flaws/bias found in Broward & Dade that plagued Sarasota (6 counties found with high UVs in A. Gen. race- 5 were ES&S touchscreen counties, like Sarasota) (butterfly ballot design used again in 2006 in close races in Florida like in 2000 when it swung the Bush/Gore race)

Miami Herald ELECTIONS 2006
Ballot design an issue in Broward and Dade, tooA close look at election numbers in Broward and Miami-Dade counties shows that confusing ballot design might have caused voters to overlook two Cabinet races.

BY TRENTON DANIEL AND BREANNE GILPATRICK
[e-mail]
Document | Sample ballot

The same electronic ballot design flaw implicated in more than 18,300 Sarasota nonvotes might have caused problems for South Florida voters in two well-publicized Cabinet races.

Both Broward and Miami-Dade counties recorded more than 34,000 nonvotes in their elections for attorney general and chief financial officer, according to election results from each county's Supervisor of Elections office.

The problem was worse in precincts with many older voters.

In both counties, the two Cabinet races appeared at the bottom of a voting screen with the higher-profile race for governor and lieutenant governor -- a contest in which seven sets of candidates nearly filled the screen. All races on the page were listed under a general heading.

One explanation is that many voters assumed the governor's race was the only one on the page, touched the ''next'' button and moved on through the ballot without noticing the two races.

In Sarasota, where the 13th Congressional District race also occupied the same page as the governor's race, experts have blamed the design problem for 18,382 nonvotes in one of the nation's most contested congressional races.

Voting machine malfunctions could have contributed to some of the nonvotes, said Stephen Ansolabehere, a member of the Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project. Voters also may have decided to skip the race intentionally.

But the high number of nonvotes potentially related to the design -- throughout Florida -- signals a need to re-evaluate some of the state's electronic voting technology, Ansolabehere said.

''In general it's a good rule of thumb to have one office per screen,'' said Ansolabehere, who is also a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ``It really minimizes confusion as to what you're doing.''

The canvassing board certified election results Friday in Broward and Miami-Dade, and acknowledged the significant number of nonvotes in the two races.

''I think looking at that page you may not see those two races,'' Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes said.

Sarasota, Broward and Miami-Dade counties all use the same touch-screen iVotronic machines, which are produced by Election Systems & Software.

Each county designs its own ballots.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/16042973.htm

[napi21]

3. Has anyone requested a revote in those areas? n/t

[philb]

4. No, but there were E machine problems all over the state- some voters turned away in Dem areas

Here are some more, more on other threads

Broward County. All 14 iVotronic machines stopped working at the Deerfield Beach Tower Club Teen Center. Officials said the machines weren't calibrated for the 7am starting time, so the the Personal Electronic Ballots (PEB) used to activate the machines didn't work. Many people turned away said they wouldn't be able to return. Story Archive http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15950470.htm

The problem, according to Broward Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney, was a voting system technician who activated machines at one precinct with the cartridge for the other. Both precincts are housed at the teen center. Elections officials resolved the Deerfield Beach problem by bringing in new voting machines and new cartridges. The technician also was replaced. Story2 Archive2
Lee County. Printer on the ES&S iVotronic voting machines wouldn't print the zero tapes, which show that there are no ballots in the e-voting ballot box. Voting was delayed. Story Archive


Duval County. In Woodlawn precinct, the Diebold scanner that counted the votes from the ballots was not working. Story Archive

Note: people should not assume that all problems are with touch screen machines; its equally possible to hack the
opti-scan compilers; just harder to catch; the voters don't see anything wrong; and no problem can be detected without
a compiler audit or hand recount, after the election. Some states require an audit of some percent of precincts- usually 1% I think, that is a good idea but still leaves high chance of getting away with manipulation.

[napi21]

6. I hate to sound like I have a prejudice here, but....

What in the hell is wrong with Florida?

Tech loaded wrong info? That's inexcusable!

I understand there can be problems with technology, but Fla is just rediculous!

I have to say, if I were Governor of that State, I would import techs if I had to, but damn it, the election this year would have been flawless!

Jebbie IS responsible for what happens in HIS government! I suspect Crist won't be any more responsible!

[philb]

5. Someone with time could go to Florida SOS website and look at undervotes for all counties

This would be very useful, for Attorney General Race, Governor race, and some of the close Cogressional races that Dems lost(I think Repubs will almost surely do it for theirs).

do google search for Florida elections
you'll find it.

Comparing undervotes of touchscreen counties to non touch screen counties would also be very useful
the big counties mostly have touch screens, but not all
there is a list of what each county has on the web
I have the list I could post if someone wanted it.

[philb]

8. Problems with Governor race also; check that race too; switching in S. Florida

Broward County. Vote-switching to Republicans by the ES&S iVotronics. "Debra A. Reed voted with her boss on Wednesday at African-American Research Library and Cultural Center near Fort Lauderdale. Her vote went smoothly, but boss Gary Rudolf called her over to look at what was happening on his machine. He touched the screen for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, a Democrat, but the review screen repeatedly registered the Republican, Charlie Crist." Story Archive

Broward County - Vote-switching to Republicans by ES&S iVotronic. "After casting her votes, Marek, a Democrat, was surprised to see name of Charlie Crist -- the Republican candidate for governor -- on the review screen. ... She said poll workers told her the machine had been problematic before, but that they had reprogrammed it, a process they repeated after speaking to her." Story Archive

Miami-Dade County. Vote-switching to Republicans by ES&S iVotronics. "Mauricio Raponi wanted to vote for Democrats across the board at the Lemon City Library in Miami on Thursday. But each time he hit the button next to the candidate, the Republican choice showed up. Raponi, 53, persevered until the machine worked. Then he alerted a poll worker." Story Archive

[kster]

7. K N R...nt

[philb]

9. Strange results on absentee counts in Broward Co. again- very high Rep %

for major races compared to Broward registrations and regular votes
http://www.browardsoe.org/enrsummary.aspx?page=S&eid=65&ver=-1&lid=1&pre=-1&vt=6135
http://www.browardsoe.org/enrsummary.aspx?page=S&eid=65&ver=-1&lid=1&pre=-1&vt=6138

Voter turnout in Broward, Florida's biggest Dem county was 43%
Dade another big county for Dems was only 37% ; where was the DEM GOTV?

Brevard- a Repub county was 59.6%

statewide was only 46% very strange
new record low though most money spent on ads than anytime in history

[philb]

11. This might explain the the low turnout in some Broward precincts

A precinct in Orange Park, Florida, turned to paper ballots because of machine problems. Voting was delayed for 30 minutes or more at some Broward County precincts, where electronic ballots were mixed up and, in one case, a poll worker unintentionally wiped the electronic ballot activators.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/07/voting.problems.ap/index.html

[philb]

12. Detailed analysis of Palm Beach 2000/2004 showed long lines usually means low official turnout

see the details at the PB thread

[philb]

10. What is the URL for Florida undervotes and overvotes?

I found it before, but now can't find it. Did it disappear?

[philb]

13. Does anyone have time to compile undervotes and % undervotes for Hillsboro Co-nearby at this sit

http://www.votehillsborough.org/getdocument.aspx?id=22

for U.S. Senate and the 3 Congressional races and Governor and Attorney General races


or for other such counties

download the exel files which are by precincts, not total,
you calculate the undervotes by subtracting the total ballots less the number for each candidate
since they have numbers for absentees, early v, provisionals, and election day, it isn't easy to get totals
unless you know how to do excel macros; but its easy to get percents for each precinct.

[philb]

14. Some counties have large undervotes in the Attorney General race

according to Florida SOS web page -calculated difference between total turnout and total votes for candidates

County undervote% (Broward and Dade are very large counties, Lee is pretty large)
Broward 6.98%
Charlotte 20.88%
Lee 17.70%
Dade 8.67%
Sumter 21.75%


These are much higher than the rest of the counties. Anyone know what may explain any of these?

According to my list these counties all use ES&S touch screen equipment


Sarasota also uses ES&S touch screens

anyone looked at other races in ES&S counties?

I'm aware that there were reports of touch screen switching in S. Florida again, though not nearly as many reports as in 2004. But there was a huge EP effort in 2004 and that apparently did not happen in florida in 2006. I'm not sure why.
Money? Could things similar to Sarasota have happened in these counties? Anyone heard anything?

[philb]

15. Does anyone know if provisional votes have been counted in Florida?

In 2004 in Florida there was a huge effort to exclude minority votes by manipulation of provisionals.
There were widespread illegal dirty tricks telling minority voters the wrong precinct number, in conjunction with a new rule that if they vote in the wrong precinct their vote doesn't count. There also appeared to be considerable malfeasance and misfeasance in this regard, losing huge numbers of minority votes.

The same kind of thing was very widespread in Ohio and also happened in about 20 states.

www.flcv.com/summary.html


If the provisionals have been counted, does anyone know the percent rejected by county?

[philb]

16. Is anyone aware in Campbell is aware of his "disappeared votes" ?

[philb]

17. Another county to add to these 5 that had unusual high undervotes in At. Gen. race

Another county with extremely high undervotes in At. Gen. race, extremely unusual for a opti-scan county- no other comparable opti-scan county like this

Diebold accuvote system

Seminole 7.78%

from Seminole SOE website http://voteseminole.org/en-us/
Turnout(total votes) for all Florida counties;

Go to
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/enight.asp
and note the "Voter Turnout" link near upper left (under "Status"), which leads here:
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/TurnoutRpt.Asp?ElectionDate=11/07/2006&Datamode=E


ES&S touch screen counties also have high undervotes in Attorney General race>> appears to be widespread hack/glitches in Attorney Geneneral Race
according to Florida SOS web page -calculated difference between total turnout and total votes for candidates

See previous tabulation of the counties

[philb]

18. At. Gen. race very close/competitive yet had much higher undervotes than Ag. Comm. race

that was not close or competitive. Little ads from Dem Ag. Comm. race

At. Gen. race undervotes also much higher than other cabinet level races.

Is anyone aware of ballot design bias in the Attorney Gen. race in these counties similar to that seen in the Sarasota
Dist 13 Congressional race?

Is anyone aware of "disappearing" Skip Cambell votes in these touch screen counties similar to the Sarasota Cong. race?

I'm aware switching was reported in some of these ES&S counties, but not sure which races it was reported for.

[philb]

19. Has anyone who lives in these 6 counties heard anything that would explain these high UVs?

I hear Clint Curtis is looking into Seminole county irregularities

Anyone looking at any of the other counties?