brennan center for justice

February2008May 2006August 2004May2005May 2006PremierAccuVote-OSPremierAccuVote-OSSequoiaOptech III-PEagleES&SOptical Scan(modelunknown)ES&SM150, M550MassachusettsMichiganMichiganMississippiMontanaBristol County, MAThe Taunton Daily Gazette reported that votes fromtwo precincts had to be counted separately due to a“glitch” with a memory card. “The reason for theextra work, [Taunton’s City Clerk Rose Blackwell]said, was a result of a problem she detected lastFriday with regard to the memory card the cityreceived from LHS Associates of Methuen—thecompany that provided the voting machines.” Localofficials said this separate count did not compromisethe outcome of the election. It was unclear whatcaused the “glitch” with the card. 410Barry County, MIAccording to the Grand Rapids Press, flawed ballotprogramming caused an optical scan system to tallyvotes incorrectly. The problem was discovered whena county clerk received the voting results from theprecinct where he had voted and saw that onecandidate received no votes, despite the fact that hehimself had voted for the candidate. He also thoughtit peculiar that 90 out of 127 votes cast in oneprecinct selected the option to write in a candidateon the ballot. Because there were widespreadproblems with machines incorrectly tallying votes,county workers hand counted votes for the schoolboard election. 411Muskegon, MIAccording to the Muskegon Chronicle, Optech scanmachines failed to detect 2% of votes in the race forTownship Clerk. Initially, the machines indicatedthat the incumbent had been defeated by a five votemargin. After a recount, 39 additional votes werefactored into election totals and the challenger wonby two votes. 412Forrest County, MSThe Hattiesburg American reported that the primaryelection for a city council race was not certified fordays after the election because of discrepancies in votetallies. The number of ballots counted by opticalscanners reportedly did not correspond to the votetotals on the voting machines. 413Yellowstone County, MTBrennan Center for Justice | 73