The manufacturer of North Carolina's touch-screen voting machines says the devices can't be programmed to default votes to Democrats, as was alleged by state Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer last week.
Adam Carbullido, the director for consumer service for ES&S, said in a letter to the State Board of Elections that the iVotronic machines used in 35 North Carolina counties "has no capability or coding mechanism that would allow the system to default to any specific selection, whether it is a candidate or party."
Fetzer said Thursday that the GOP is compiling written statements from voters who said they tried to vote a straight-ticket Republican ballot, only to see their votes tallied on a final review screen as being casts for Democrats.
He said the problem appears to occur when the touch screen is unsure of the voter's selection, after which it is programmed to record the vote to the first candidate listed in the race.
Democrats are listed before Republicans on the electronic ballots and therefore get the vote, Fetzer said. State election officials, and now ES&S, say that Fetzer's allegation is simply untrue.
Carbullido pointed out that the voting machines, like all touch screen devices, must be calibrated to accurately detect the voter's selection, and that voters are prompted to confirm their selections at the end of the process before the ballots are cast.
In response to a federal lawsuit filed Friday, U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard ordered the State Board of Elections to have all poll workers tell each voter using the touch screens to read the alert, then ask to be notified of problems. All precincts using the ATM-style devices must keep logs of complaints and how they're resolved.
Document(s):
ESS Letter.pdf
Comments
Republican vote stealing again...
November 1, 2010 - 5:28pm — logosisdeadFacts
November 1, 2010 - 2:26pm — NC741) People don't always "check;"
2) When a Republican is elected Governor the Democrat controlled NC legislature will NOT let him have a free hand in choosing a Highway Patrol Commander; he must pick from the Democrats in the patrol (that's all there were in the NCSHP prior to Holshouser); and
3) When a Republican is elected Lt. Governor the Democrat controlled Senate will strip the position of its powers.
Those are just three of many "FACTS."
This allegation makes no
November 1, 2010 - 2:12pm — tanntamountThis allegation makes no sense because the machine asks you to confirm your selections BEFORE you press the "Submit" button. You have an opportunity to correct the mistake before you submit the electronic ballot.
That's not exactly what I understood to be the problem ...
November 1, 2010 - 2:04pm — NC74Way back during the Holshouser administration we had this State's first Republican Chairman of the State Board of Elections. He correctly noticed that the Democrat candidates were always listed first on the ballot. To be fair, this new chairman wanted the Republican candidates to benefit from being listed first and proposed such. Alex Brock talked him into allowing the Democrats to remain in the first spot that particular year (to avoid confusion to Democrats who were so used to having their choices listed first) with the understanding that in future years the two parties would alternate every other year. Very shortly thereafter, there was a bill introduced in the legislature that the candidates on the ballot would be listed per their party alphabetically, taking the whole thing out of the SBOE's hands. As I understand the complaint, if the machines are not calibrated correctly they default to the top of the ballot, i.e. the Democrat, and not the Republican candidate(s) actually chosen. So spin it however you want. It is what it is, or rather, it is the way the Democrats wanted it. Sure wouldn't want Republicans to have a level playing field. After Tuesday mayhaps the legislature will want to have candidates listed by party in reverse alphabetical order. Good for the goose, you know.
Come on republicans...
November 1, 2010 - 1:28pm — weeksgrooveWe know you don't like facts... where is the outrage over a liberal company telling a liberal BoE that there is no fraud in their code. It can't be that the code is correct, it has to be that there is a conspiracy and that we need to remove all votes for Dems in those counties as they are fraud.
Facts are fun, cause they don't lie... unlike the republican's who are committing voter fraud by trying to prevent votes from being counted on baseless and untrue claims.