I live in Columbus, OH. My school district had a special election on February 7, 2006. I was impressed that these "Accuvote" machines had a paper verification that printed to the left of the screen prior to me submitting my vote (not sure what I would have done if it had been wrong). I had just moved from a different Columbus suburb 6 months before and when I saw the paper trail that we didn't have at my old district, I figured it was just because the new part of town is heavily Republican and they weren't really taking a risk by having paper trails there. That was until I got a survey in the mail today ...
I received the survey today. It starts out:
Dear New Albany - Plain Local School District Special Election Voter:
As you are already aware, the voting system that you used at the Tuesday, February 7, 2006 Special Election is a new voting system purchased by the Franklin County Board of Elections. The same system that you used at your Special Election will be used countywide on May 2, 2006 for the Primary Election. By completing and returning this survey, you will be enabling us to learn valuable information that will assist the Board of Elections in finalizing our countywide implementation plans for May. Please take a few moments to answer each question and return the completed anonymous survey in the postage paid return envelope. Your participation is much needed and greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Matthew M. Damschroder
Director
Dennis L. White
Deputy Director
For those that don't know, until this past fall, Dennis White was the chairman of the ODP.
Question #9 on the survey is:
The new voting machines are equipped with a paper audit trail (VVPAT) that prints on paper the choices you make on the touch screen. Did you review the paper record before casting and confirming your ballot?
From what I remember of the machine, the paper receipt was to the left of the touch screen under a clear plastic cover. After I had entered all selections and pushed a button, the receipt printed. When I finalized my vote, the paper moved up so that only white paper was showing. I never touched the paper, but apparently it is stored within the machine. I felt pretty comfortable that the vote would be counted accurately.
I remember looking at the name on the machine and all I saw was "Accuvote." No mention of Diebold or ES&S. Does anybody know who makes this machine and whether or not it is reliable?
Although I'm not quite sure how a paper trail would even help with OH's new election law that prevents recounts in federal elections. This from The Free Press on March 2, 2006:
HB3 also ends the ability of the public to conduct meaningful audits of voting machines. Election protection activists recently forced the adoption of an auditable paper trail into the Ohio election process. In a state where virtually all ballots are cast and/or counted on electronic equipment, this cuts to the core of the ability to monitor an election's outcome. The new provision in HB3 will make the paper trail virtually meaningless.
HB3 further imposes a huge jump in the cost of forcing a recount. In 2004, the charge was $10 per precinct, with some 11,366 precincts in the state. Thus the Green and Libertarian Parties, which paid for it, had to pay somewhat more than $113,660. Now the charge will be $50 per precinct, jumping the charge to some $568,300.
Finally, and perhaps most astonishingly, HB3 eliminates the state statutes that have allowed citizens to challenge the outcome of federal elections within the state. After the 2004 election, election protection advocates filed a challenge to Bush's victory. Their attorneys were attacked with an official attempt to levy sanctions, and then were thwarted from an effective suit when GOP Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell locked up the state's voter records.
But HB3 would now entirely eliminate any possibility of a state-based legal challenge. The only alleged recourse for those wishing to officially question the vote count in a presidential, US Senate or US Congressional race in Ohio would be at the United States Congress. There is now no recourse whatsoever on the state level.
Do the new machines matter? Any input anybody has as far as the survey, I'm happy to listen before filling it out. Do these new machines and having Denny White as Deputy Director mean that OH is on the way to credible election results?
