Reply #4: FL: Security advocate says voting machine test inadequate [View All]

[EFerrari]

Security advocate says voting machine test inadequate

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, August 24, 2006

An initial plan to test some of Palm Beach County's electronic voting machines by conducting a "parallel election" during the Sept. 5 primary doesn't go far enough toward simulating election-day conditions, a security advocate who advised the county says.

The parallel election was among the measures suggested in March by the Brennan Center for Justice to an elections technology panel put together by county Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson.

The exercise involves randomly taking machines that have been programmed for a real election and voting on them according to a predetermined script to see if the machines accurately record votes.

An elections office plan calls for a test of 41 of the approximately 4,300 machines to be used in the primary. A testing team is to cast 14 ballots on each machine while another team watches and a third team videotapes the process to make sure the testers accurately follow the scripts.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2006/08/24/m4b_parallel_0824.html