Election Problems in Snohomish County
I am running, unopposed, for Republican Precinct Committee Officer (PCO), the party representative of the precinct. These races are conducted, in the great state of Washington, during the primary every two years. On the electronic voting machines this year (made by Sequoia Voting Systems), my name was not listed. It was on the paper ballot, just not on the voting machine.
There were two lines under PCO: one was blank, and the other was for write-in. Imagine this picture (from two years ago), except instead of saying "Chris Nandor," there's simply an empty space. If you check off the blank space, my name shows up in the Review section (before you confirm your choices), and if you then cast the ballot, my name prints to the paper audit trail. But on the ballot selection itself, my name was just not being displayed.
Snohomish County Elections Manager Carolyn Diepenbrock looked into it and apparently, my name -- the name of the guy who was in the paper this very morning criticizing the County Auditor's office -- was the only one affected by whatever the problem is. Of all the names that would fail to display, it was mine. That seems very suspicious, though I think it is merely an incredibly embarrassing coincidence.
They tried and failed to fix the problem. Thankfully, as I am running unopposed, and won't be affected by this. And hopefully, it really did affect no other races. But they need to fix this before the general election in November, or at least make sure it doesn't affect any other races in that election.
I don't see this as evidence for why we should not have electronic voting machines; I see it as evidence for why we should require open source software for them.
There were two lines under PCO: one was blank, and the other was for write-in. Imagine this picture (from two years ago), except instead of saying "Chris Nandor," there's simply an empty space. If you check off the blank space, my name shows up in the Review section (before you confirm your choices), and if you then cast the ballot, my name prints to the paper audit trail. But on the ballot selection itself, my name was just not being displayed.
Snohomish County Elections Manager Carolyn Diepenbrock looked into it and apparently, my name -- the name of the guy who was in the paper this very morning criticizing the County Auditor's office -- was the only one affected by whatever the problem is. Of all the names that would fail to display, it was mine. That seems very suspicious, though I think it is merely an incredibly embarrassing coincidence.
They tried and failed to fix the problem. Thankfully, as I am running unopposed, and won't be affected by this. And hopefully, it really did affect no other races. But they need to fix this before the general election in November, or at least make sure it doesn't affect any other races in that election.
I don't see this as evidence for why we should not have electronic voting machines; I see it as evidence for why we should require open source software for them.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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