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Electronic Voting Machine Steals Oprah's Vote
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by Erik Larson | November 1, 2008 at 11:22 am
1602 views | 36 Recommendations | 19 comments
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Oprah Winfrey voted early and says the electronic voting machine didn't record her vote for Obama (video). First reported by Huffington Post, then picked up by Bradblog.com. Brad Friedman observes that in IL, she must have been voting on either Diebold or Sequoia, and even if there's no visible vote-flipping, there's still no way to verify that election results match voter intent, given the proprietary secret software. Now that a media big shot has had this happen to their vote, maybe something will get done.
Keep an eye on Bradblog.com's coverage of Touch-Screen Vote-Flipping 2008 (2008 General Election Version)
"When I voted yesterday electronically, the first vote that you vote for on the ballot is the presidential candidate. It was my first time doing electronic, so I didn't mark the X strong enough, or I held down too long. Because then when I went back to check it, it had not recorded my presidential vote," she said.She then simulated her meltdown, shaking and breathing heavily while stuttering out the words, "It didn't record my presidential vote."
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (19)
at 11:43 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, good catch. Thanks.
at 11:43 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff. I wonder how many times this will happen in this election?
at 11:59 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 13:07 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, this is so odd. I guess there's no way to really know.
at 13:16 on November 1st, 2008
thx for the good stuff, guys
merlingraycat; i don't know if i can count that high...
Amy- you're right, there's no way to know, and this is the main problem; elections should be secure, transparent and accountable, so the People know the election reflects the People's will.
This is simply not possible with electronic voting or opscan machines, given the nature of the technology. Even open-source code isn't a solution, it would just close off some opportunities for tampering.
Paper ballots, secure custody, hand-counted on election night in the local precincts, with results posted publicly and online for all to see, and backed up by election-verification exit polls is the best way so far.
If it's good enough for you Canucks, it's good enuf for us Yanks! imho
at 14:10 on November 1st, 2008
We use paper ballots in Alaska. Big, scannable ballots and if there is any question they can be hand counted. This might not help with the questions that are written sometimes so nobody would have a clue what a 'yes' or 'no' actually means, but there is no doubt about how they are counted.
at 14:36 on November 1st, 2008
I feel so much better with paper ballots. It's something real you can feel in your hands, rather than pushing a button or pulling a lever.
at 14:29 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 14:30 on November 1st, 2008
There should alway be a verifiable vote. Can a candidate not demand a recount under certain circumstances? Electronic can be too easily manipulated.
at 15:24 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 15:48 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff. betcha Maury Povich had something to do with it!
at 16:39 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Mine was emailed to me...and I printed it out, made my choice, posted it out from China..all costing me 184rmb. The great thing is the City Auditor emailed and confirmed she did receive my ballot....I think I can rest assured my vote counted in this election.....while knowing I wasn't in the US to cast it.
Rev. Jermano
at 17:24 on November 1st, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 17:24 on November 1st, 2008
With luck, social media will be the cure for voter fraud.
at 18:09 on November 1st, 2008
*Grin*
at 18:59 on November 1st, 2008
You left out the part where she kept punching it, probably hoping it would count more than once.
at 11:29 on November 2nd, 2008
wow, this has generated a lot of interest, I hope Oprah appreciates it and takes a stand for election integrity in the US.
Currently, each state governs their own elections according to their own rules, as long as they comply with HAVA and don't conflict with the Voting Rights Act, etc. This leaves states, counties and precincts with corrupt partisan officials many opportunities to game the system in their candidate's favor.
Republicans- if you think this isn't a problem cuz your candidates have been winning; are the Republocrats that get the nomination really the ones you wanted to win? Those primary votes are often counted on these easily hackable, notoriously unreliable evoting or opscan machines. The laws governing when a recount can be requested are generally rigged against the challenger, and sometimes amount to nothing more than running the votes thru the same machines, or sometimes an audit of 1% of the toilet paper trail- if it happens in a state that even requires a toilet paper trail. These things have spoilage rates of 10-20% sometimes, and are hard to read, compared with a paper ballot. A toilet paper trail is not a paper ballot, it's merely a record.
at 20:05 on November 1st, 2008
mtippet, thx for posting the actual video of Oprah's statements
at 09:03 on November 2nd, 2008
Erik Larson, I like this story. It's good stuff. Wow, this is pretty scary because with these computerized systems ... there's so many things that could go wrong! It's always important to have a 'paper backup system' during voting. I suspect that this type of thing will recur many, many times just prior to voting day (and probably during as well - because of the sheer volume!). Angelica