Florida Lost Electronic Voting Data
from the nice-move-there dept
The electronic voting story keeps getting worse and worse -- especially in, of all places, Florida. We've already mentioned how Florida's e-voting machines had audit trails that didn't match the actual vote totals and how Florida has a law prohibiting recounts for electronic voting machines. Now, the news comes out that, despite being required by law to keep the data from the machines for 22 months, election officials in Miami-Dade county admit that a hard-drive crash has wiped out the data from some electronic voting machines used in the 2002 election and there's simply no record of the votes any more. They quickly point out that all the votes were (probably) counted at the time of the election, but (of course) there's really no way to make sure that's true at all. It's also not the real point. This is highlighting (once again) how unreliable these machines are, and without any kind of paper trail, there's simply no way to go back and make sure that (a) the votes were counted (b) they were counted accurately and (c) they can be counted again.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
two crashes?
Just like in 2000, it sounds like they are stealing votes for their chosen winner and blaming it on some lame technology. Since there is no proof, sorry we cant help you prove we stole another election, but you can trust us.
Oh, and you can be sure that your vote will count in November. We will make sure your vote gets counted atleast once for GW regardless of your choice. Trust us.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Does it matter?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The real problem ...
Let's just say this: Bananas are not the only things that come in bunches. What a bunch of idiots.
It is sad that we're going to turn our democracy over to a bunch of people who don't realize that you should probably back up your data in case your hard drive crashes ... but that's exactly what we are going to do.
We deserve EVERYTHING we get.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Florida has a law prohibiting recounts for electro
Actually it is a rule not a law.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
*sigh*
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Which state should we go after next Mr. Cheney and Mr. Ashcroft ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Voting machine
hello,
Traditionally, a voting machine has been defined by the mechanism the system uses to cast votes and further categorized by the location where the system tabulates the votes.
Voting machines have different usability, security, efficiency and accuracy. Certain systems may be more or less accessible to all voters, or not accessible to those voters with certain types of disabilities. They can also have an effect on the public's ability to oversee elections.
=============================
rock
==============================
Fort Lauderdale homes for sale-
[ link to this | view in chronology ]