Activists Sue to Block Electronic Voting

Hundreds of voters stand in line in the rain at the First Fellowship Church in Columbus, Ohio, in this Nov. 2, 2004, file photo. Computerized voting was supposed to be the cure for ballot fiascos such as the 2000 presidential election, but activist groups say it has only worsened the problem and they've gone to court across the country to ban the new machines. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File) (Mark Duncan - AP)

As it turned out, Ohio did push George Bush over the top, but only after problems at voting precincts _ including malfunctioning Diebold machines _ prompted lines as long as 11 hours. Diebold denied any wrongdoing, as did the other machine makers, who say e-voting problems are coincidental, reflecting expected glitches in new technology.

The jump to electronic voting was spurred by the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which reworked election standards and encouraged states to get rid of punch-card systems by making $3.9 billion available to states for upgrading election equipment.

Manufacturers of touch-screen machines and optical scanners touted their young technology to election officials as the best way to get those funds, and to avoid the chaos caused by punch cards in the 2000 election.

But according to voters' rights groups, much the money was disbursed well before a mandated HAVA committee published its stringent new election standards.

Bear said there has been no evidence in any election of hackers breaching electronic security measures and manipulating votes. However, Finley said Voter Action has documented other problems with e-voting.

"We had dozens of affidavits from voters in New Mexico who said they touched one candidate's name, but the machine picked the opponent," he said. In the state's biggest county, home to Albuquerque, touch-screens machines purchased from Sequoia lost 13,000 votes, Finley said.

In the end, Voter Action agreed to drop its New Mexico lawsuit when the state stopped purchases of the machines and reverted to paper ballots that would be electronically scanned for results.

Other states had similar problems during the current primary season. In Arkansas, for example, one county's results were delayed for four days because of faulty software, machines that wouldn't boot up and a shortage of technicians to fix the $15.9 million system recently purchased from ES&S.

The company's machines also drew complaints from officials in Indiana, Oregon and West Virginia, where Secretary of State Betty Ireland blamed ES&S for "vast delays" and "broken promises" and reported the firm to the Federal Election Assistance Commission.

Finley says there is an easy solution to the problems.

"The best and simplest way is to have voters vote on paper," he said. "You can use modern technology _ like scanners _ to verify the vote," he said. "But you always have the assurance that you can go back and hand count those ballots."

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On the Net:

Voter Action: http://www.voteraction.org