brennan center for justice

March 2004March 2004DieboldAccuVote-OSDieboldPCM500CaliforniaCaliforniaSan Diego, CAWeeks after Election Day, local officials discoveredan error in eight Diebold scanners that had been usedon 208,446 absentee ballots. According to the NorthCounty Times, votes were miscounted in both theDemocratic presidential primary race and theprimary race for the Republican U.S. Senate seat. 319A recount was conducted, revealing that “2,821absentee ballots cast for Democratic presidentialhopeful John Kerry were actually counted for DickGephardt.” Similarly, in the Senate race, 68 votes forone candidate and six votes for another were creditedto a third candidate. The Union Tribune reportedthat multiple scanners caused the error, feeding datainto the tabulation system at once. 320Alameda and San Diego Counties, CAAccording to the San Diego Union Tribune, morethan 700 precinct control modules that activate thecards used to call up ballots on touchscreen machinesdisplayed the wrong start-up screen on primary day,causing delays of up to three hours at the polls. 321At a hearing called by the Secretary of State’s office toinvestigate the problems during the primary, aDiebold technician called the problem – whichoccurred when the batteries in the equipmentdischarged beyond a certain point – “fully known.” 322October 2008PremierAccuVote-TSXColoradoFor more on this incident, see case study 8 on pages 16 –17 of this report.Adams County, COThe Colorado Independent reported that “[a]nelectronic voting machine in Adams Countyrepeatedly failed to accept [one voter’s] vote for aDemocratic state Senate candidate—insteadregistering the vote for her Republican opponent—atan early voting site . . . and [that the machine] hasbeen removed from service.” “The voter reported theproblem to election judges, who canceled her ballotand allowed her to vote—this time accurately⎯onanother machine, . . . .” After quarantining themachine, Adams County Clerk and Recorder KarenLong “said that election officials hadn’t received anyother complaints about the particular machine andthat no other voting errors have been reported.” 323Brennan Center for Justice | 53