Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Two weeks ago South Carolina election officials told their voters that they needn’t be concerned about the negative reports relative to the state’s chosen voting system, ES&S iVotronic DREs, that have come from Ohio and Colorado. Officials talked about how security in the state was top-notch. So yesterday, in Horry Co, the voting system melted down forcing voters to cast their ballots on any paper they could find. A state representative told the media even paper towels would suffice if necessary.

OK, so the problem turned out to be what appears to be a human error again. Someone forgot to complete the last step of testing and the machines would not start at the polls without the testing being closed out. Early reports were that 80 to 90% or more of the machines in the county were affected. Today, one day after the meltdown, damage control has kicked-in and one media outlet is even saying that just 20 machines in the county were affected.

But no matter, yes it appears to have been human error and that error may have affected 20 or 20,000 machines, the fact is that some voters went away from the polls without voting. The fact is also that state election officials provided the counties with a voting system that may be too difficult and too technical for use by someone without a computer sciences degree.

I would lay better than even odds that an ES&S representative or two were there when the machines were tested and probably had an active role in that testing. Even they failed to follow the instructions and complete the process. Voting should be easy. Voters should be able to walk away from the polls with a feeling of pride in taking part in our democracy; not concern for whether the paper towel they voted on would actually by counted. The KISS — Keep It Simple Stupid – rule should apply.

Coverage of that story, and all of the other notable voting news stories today, are all linked below as usual…

• AR: Officials Expect Smooth Sailing With Voting Machines
  http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2008/01/20/news/news3.txt
• CA: Kings County – Kings Co. counts on a difficult vote count
  http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/335612.html
• NH: Huge Diebold Disparities Uncovered In New Hampshire Recount
  Memory cards missing as attorney voices concerns about transparency
  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/011808_diebold_disparities.htm
• NY: Breakthrough at the Board?
  NY Could Vote on Paper Ballots
  http://nyvv.org/blog/bolipariblog.html
• OH: Better training would be better than dumping
  http://www.salemnews.net/editorials/articles.asp?articleID=9643
• OH: Butler County – 9 in county accused of voting twice
  Elections board refers the incidents from November to the county prosecutor.
  http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/01/20/hjn012008Vote.html
• PA: Local officials dismiss reports of flawed voting system
  http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/01/19/breaking_news/doc4792c595705fc205221993.txt
• PA: No “perfect” voting solution for county
  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19215186&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6
• SC: Democrats concerned
  Party hopes machines ready for Saturday
  http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/321111.html
• SC: Horry County – Human Error Delayed Opening of Voting Machines in Some Horry County Precincts
  http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2008-01-19-0007.html
• SC: Horry County – Machines fail, voters use paper ballots
  http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/321152.html
• SC: Horry County – Horry voting machines melt down
  http://www.northmyrtlebeachonline.com/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=1207
• TN: Davidson County – Nashville laptop theft may cost $1 million
  Thieves have stolen two laptops containing unencrypted Social Security numbers of 337,000 Tennessee residents.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011900961.html

**”Daily Voting News” is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in “Daily Voting News” may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or BradBlog.Com**