Ohio Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Votes
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An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.
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A Denver-based e-voting testing laboratory and experts from three universities have been hired by the state of Ohio to undertake independent evaluations of the states&#39; e-voting hardware, software, and processes. The move is aimed at finding and fixing potential problems before the 2008 presidential election.The work is being done under a $1.7 million contract awarded earlier this summer by the state to get an in-depth picture of how the e-voting system is working. Since the 2000 presidential election,&#160;critics of e-voting systems have voiced concerns&#160;about the accuracy, integrity, and security of e-voting results and have pushed for tougher means of ensuring that every vote cast is properly counted.Ohio has faced e-voting problems in several elections in which electronic machines were used, including a&#160;May 2006 primary election,&#160;when a host of accuracy problems were reported.The evaluation process was announced by newly elected Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner after she took office in January. Chris Nance, Ohio&#39;s assistant secretary of state, said Tuesday that the review will test a representative sample of the 40,000 e-voting machines and systems used in Ohio&#39;s 88 counties to determine what changes and improvements need to be made. &quot;This is a risk assessment&quot; being done to identify potential vulnerabilities in the related systems, Nance said.After a competitive hiring process this summer, Ohio tapped Denver-based SysTest Labs to conduct the evaluation. SysTest Labs is accredited by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission for e-voting system certification and testing.In a first for Ohio, and perhaps the nation, three computer security researchers from three major universities -- Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California, Santa Barbara -- are also conducting independent evaluations of the state&#39;s e-voting systems. Those reviews will be submitted along with the ones being done by SysTest Labs.Having evaluations from various sources &quot;creates this range of feedback,&quot; said Nance.The e-voting hardware in the state is primarily from Omaha-based Election Systems &amp; Software and Allen, Texas-based Premier Election Solutions, formerly known as Diebold Election Systems. Two counties use machines from Austin-based Hart InterCivic.Brian Phillips, president of SysTest Labs, said that the testing processes began Sept. 24 and will be completed by Nov. 30. The performance testing covers hardware and election management software, as well as the polling place devices and the central counting applications that tally all the votes, he said.The company is conducting configuration management testing to ensure that the e-voting system hardware and software matches the specifications of the certified systems allowed in elections across Ohio, he said. Also being reviewed are systems that prevent any changes or updates in the hardware or software without the approval of election officials.Final reports from the reviews will be delivered Dec. 14 to Brunner&#39;s office. Those reports will then be evaluated by the governor and legislature for any action that may be needed, Nance said.&quot;It is certainly the intention... for any secretary of state... to put in place a set of policies and procedures&quot; to ensure that every vote is properly counted, Nance said. &quot;The American electorate has seen that there are issues related to electronic voting. We would not have spent $1.7 million for this study if we felt we were on a fool&#39;s errand. It is our responsibility to put together our very best effort to do that.&quot;&quot;Is this a perfect plan? Is this the perfect approach? I don&#39;t think there is anything that is a perfect plan or approach. This is our best plan.&quot;Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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The winner of the presidential race in Ohio was in dispute early on Wednesday, keeping the country again on edge four years after a recount battle in Florida delayed the outcome for five weeks.
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Ohio, mother to seven presidents, is used to being in the center of presidential elections. Just two presidents have taken the White House without winning the Buckeye state since 1900.
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The senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee protested President Bush's re-election Wednesday with a new report claiming serious election irregularities and "significant disenfranchisement" of voters in Ohio.
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The Ohio delegation to the Electoral College cast its votes for President Bush on Monday, hours after dissident groups asked the state Supreme Court to review the outcome of the state's presidential race.
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US President George W. Bush won another four-year term in office on Wednesday after Senator John Kerry conceded defeat. The challenger said there would not be enough uncounted ballots in Ohio to shift the
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The UK newspaper The Guardian has undertaken a campaign urging its readers to write US voters in Clark County, Ohio and urge them to vote against President George W. Bush in the US presidential elections.  They call this campaign Operation Clark County.
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Congress on Thursday began its  formal certification of President Bush's victory in November's  election but a handful of Democrats objected and temporarily  stalled the count because of alleged irregularities in Ohio.
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WASHINGTON - Electronic voting machine problems caused more than 4,500 votes to be lost in one North Carolina county during Tuesday's general election, and gave U.S. President George Bush more than 3,800 extra votes in an Ohio county, according to reports by the Associated Press.
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The counting of more than 150,000 provisional ballots cast in Ohio will go forward, despite John Kerry's concession that President Bush had won the state's 20 electoral votes, election officials said Wednesday.
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Some voters say machines indicated they had voted for a different candidate.
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TOLEDO, Ohio - The vote margin in Ohio between President Bush and Democrat John Kerry has been narrowed further, but doesn&#39;t challenge the President&#39;s victory in the decisive state.
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President Bush pulled within striking distance of a second term early this morning, although Sen. John Kerry&#39;s campaign vowed to stage a come-from-behind victory in the pivotal state of Ohio.
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In another indictment of the reliability of electronic voting systems, a report released Friday shows some Ohio tallies could be rendered inaccurate using tools as simple as a magnet.
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Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell signs the certifications of the votes of Ohio&#39;s delegation to the Electoral College during the voting ceremony at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, Dec. 13, 2004.
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More than 4,500 votes have been lost in one North Carolina county because officials believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did. Scattered other problems may change results in races around the state.