Voting machines to be tested
Group says studies show problems with MicroVote system
by Steve Hinnefeld | shinnefeld@heraldt.com
September 6, 2006
Local residents raised concerns Tuesday about electronic voting
machines and called on the Monroe County Election Board to safeguard
the integrity
of the voting process.
Cynthia Hoffman and James Allison, part of a new group called Verify
the Vote Indiana, cited studies that found problems with direct-recording
electronic voting machines such as the MicroVote devices used by
Monroe County.
"
The right to vote implies the right to have your vote counted," said
Allison, a retired Indiana University psychology professor.
But election officials said electronic machines, whatever their
flaws, are an improvement in speed and reliability over the paper
ballots
and mechanical devices of the past.
"
I think we've been steadily upgrading," said Guy Loftman,
a member of the election board.
Hoffman and Allison cited a report by the Brennan Center for Justice
at the New York University School of Law, which in 2005 brought
together election officials and security experts to address the
issue.
The 150-page report says all voting machines are vulnerable to
error and manipulation, including attacks by hackers who set them
to count
inaccurately. It said machines that don't allow for backup with
voter-verified paper ballots are the hardest to protect.
Hoffman said that, without a backup paper trail, "I have zero
confidence in the results." She called on the election board
to:
* Provide enhanced testing of voting machines prior to the
election.
* Conduct
random audits of optical-scan ballots used by voters
who cast absentee ballots before the election.
* Allow "parallel testing" in
which machines are randomly chosen on Election Day to have
their read-outs
checked against
votes that are cast.
County Clerk Jim Fielder, the county's chief election
official and a member of the election board, said
he takes the concerns
seriously. But he said he has faith in
the MicroVote machines, and they're a big improvement
from the old days of
paper
ballots, when
election workers often made counting errors at
the end of 16-hour work days.
"
Quite honestly, I'm more concerned about the statewide voter registration
system than I am about the voting machines," he
said.
In fact, several people at the meeting - including former
Bloomington Mayor Tomi Allison - said they checked the
state's online database
of registered voters and found they weren't included.
Fielder said public testing of a small sample of MicroVote
machines will take place Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. at the Justice
Building.
He said election officials will encourage early voting,
which starts Oct. 10 and in which marked ballots can
be checked electronically
against vote totals.
"
We will be out there promoting early voting," Fielder
said.
On the Web
Verify the Vote Indiana: www.verifythevote.org.
