BRAD BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Sarasota Gave Faulty Info to Voters on Undervotes in FL-13 Election

[BradBlog]

EXCLUSIVE: Sarasota Offered Faulty Information to Voters Concerning Undervote Confirmation Process on their ES&S Touch-Screen Voting Machines
County Elections Website Claims Voters Asked for Specific 'YES or NO' Confirmation of Undervotes at End of Voting Process
Sources Confirm it Didn't Happen That Way in Contested FL-13 U.S. House Race on November 7th...

An instructional web page, explaining the ES&S touch-screen electronic voting machines in use during Florida's disputed FL-13 U.S. House Election gives faulty information to voters about the way the county's paperless voting systems works, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

The information offered on the County's election website, concerning the crucial process during which voters might choose to adjust any "undervotes" found on their electronic "ballots" at the end of the voting process, is misleading and incorrect. According to several sources, the systems in use during the contested November 7th U.S. House race between Vern Buchanan (R) and Christine Jennings (D) did not operate as promised on the Sarasota website.

The county web page in question is described as "a technical look at how the ES&S iVotronic touch screen system works." Yet, Sarasota's ES&S iVotronic systems, apparently, didn't work as described on the site.

The "VOTE button" on the iVotronic, as explained by the text on the website, will cast the vote only after reaching the summary page is given to the voters, allowing them to explicitly approve or disapprove of any undervotes found on their "ballots."

"The iVotronic will review the ballot for any races for which the voter did not cast a vote (undervote), and asks if this is the intent of the voter," according to the webpage. The voter is then said to receive a YES or NO option to confirm their intention of undervoting in the particular race(s).

Lowell Finley, however, an attorney for VoterAction.org --- one of several non-partisan organizations leading a voter lawsuit demanding a revote in the election --- tells The BRAD BLOG that "the statement on the Sarasota website is false" and that voters were not given such an option on November 7th.

We also inquired about the matter on Friday afternoon with the office of "the Honorable" Kathy Dent, Sarasota County's Supervisor of Elections...

FULL STORY, FINLEY'S COMMENTS, SCREENSHOT, ETC...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3893

[Sydnie]

1. Thanks for keeping the light on for us Brad

You do good work!

[Botany]

2. Remember that the owner of Diebold is the brother to the owner of EES

I worked on election day in Columbus, OH.

We have EES machines and they should be put in the trash.
Not starting, not zeroing out in the AM, 30 machines did not
produce a vote tally on election day, problems with the VVPAT
(internal paper trail), wrong programing unit used, and so on.

BTW despite Ohio going blue the # 4 ranking repug in the
House, Deb Pryce, "won" (still counting votes) even though
she never polled over 44% before the election on 11/ 7/06
she pulled in 51% ......

I hope Florida and Ohio enjoy this last "bit of fun" because
big changes are coming.

BTW Thanx Brad for all your work!

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Let's see how

they explain their way out of this one.

Good luck.

[brer cat]

4. Thanks for keeping the heat on! K&R nt

[SeattleGirl]

5. Thanks, Brad

Your site the the best on voting issues. Thanks for never easing up on the issues!

[BradBlog]

6. Do I have a choice?! ;-) (nt)

[lonestarnot]

7. No you don't! We are counting on you!

:hug:

[BradBlog]

9. At someone's counting *something* ... ;-) (nt)

[Patsy Stone]

8. I've never been given that choice.

It's just as Mr. Finley stated, you get a summary screen and that's it. Maybe that's a possible function of the machine, but since I've been voting on these pieces of crap I've never once been taken line by line through my undervotes. In fact, Miami-Dade Elections doesn't even mention it in their instructional video: http://elections.miamidade.gov/video_pres.asp

Where did they get the idea that's how they work?

[BrotherBuzz]

10. You were great with Christine Craft this morning.

Christine has championed this subject for a while and I normally catch her at 'Talk City' during weekday afternoons. I was tickled to discover she was filling in at KGO this morning, and really jazzed when you joined her. It was a great morning.

Oh, you have a new admirer, my wife. She was really impressed with what you brought to the table.

[BradBlog]

11. Thanks...it was the coffee...

...That kicked in about half way through the show :-)

This morning's interview posted here for anyone curious:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3898

Happy that Mrs.Buzz was similarly pleased. We'll save this country one radio interview and one wife at a time if that's what it takes! :-)

Brad

P.S. Glad you're a Christine fan. I am as well. Have done her show on a number of occasions, once in studio when I was in San Fran and she harangued me to get my butt out there to Sacramento. Since then, Arnold and McP have put up roadblocks at the town borders to keep me out for some reason ;-)

[farmbo]

12. Interesting...I voted on an ESS machine (Ohio) with that failsafe option...

...and it seemed to work fine. Before my vote was cast, a screen advised me of any undervotes (I had one in a minor, down ballot race) and I was allowed to correct it before casting the final ballot. The fact that their website carried instructions for the failsafe indicates that the Sarasota machines also had that capability.

What this means was that Sarasota County must have gone out of their way to disable this failsafe mechanism in the Jennings race.

Find out who ordered this feature disabled and you've found your election thief!

Keep up the good work Brad!!

[BradBlog]

13. A question for you, farmbo...

Did you get the *specific* "YES or NO" question concerning each undervote? Did you get it ONLY for the entire ballot (showing your one undervote on the page with all of your not-undervotes)?

Or did you get no "YES or NO" question at all?

Just trying to be clear on what YOU actually got on the ESS iVotronic (presuming that's what it was?) up in Ohio.

Brad

[farmbo]

14. If memory serves...

...I ran thru all the ballot screens (there were five or six since we had a number of constitutional amendments) and then at the end I receiver a recapitulation screen which highlighted the race with the undervote and asked --yes or no-- for the entire ballot.

The undervote race was highlighted, though and I could vote the race at that time.

BTW, Brad...I vote in Franklin County Ohio and you probably have many other contacts closer to the BOE.

Still, if you need specific info verified on the Franklin Co ESS protocol, email me and I can get it for you.