EAC Publishes Michigan Letter Raising Doubts About ES&S Machine
November 03, 2008
A Michigan election administrator sent an letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on October 24, 2008 which raised serious questions about the ES&S electronic voting machine. The letter is one week old but was only posted to the EAC website today.
Some highlights of the letter (you can read the full letter in the pdf link below).
"While problems with the performacne and design of the M-100s have been documented, this is the first time I have ever questioned the integrity of these machines. The issue is this - four of our communities or eight percent - reported inconsistent vote totals during their logic and accuracy testing with the ES&S machines. The same ballots, run through the same machines, yielded different results each time."
Well, that should make voters confident -- different results each time the ballots were run through the same machines. Why? The letter goes on to say: "ES&S determined that the primary issue was dust and debris build-up on the sensors inside the M-100."
* * *
"Unfortunately, they [local clerks] are prohibited from performing any maintenance/cleaning on the machines as it voids the warranties. ES&S has not performed any preventative maintenance under the state contract, since the machines were delivered three years ago."
The letter is from Ruth Johnson, the Oakland, Michigan County Clerk and Record of Deeds to Rosemay Rodriquez, the Chairperson of the Election Assistance Commission.
See Full Letter at: http://www.eac.gov/program-areas/research-resources-and-reports/copy_of_docs/program-areas/research-resources-and-reports/m100-issue-letter-10-24-08.pdf
ES&S Voting Machines in Michigan Flunk Tests, Don't Tally Votes Consistently
By Kim Zetter
Wired
Optical-scan machines made by Election Systems & Software failed recent pre-election tests in a Michigan county, producing different tallies for the same ballots every time, the top election official in Oakland County revealed in a letter made public Monday.
The problems occurred during logic and accuracy tests in the run-up to this year's general election, Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson disclosed in a letter submitted October 24 (.pdf) to the federal Election Assistance Commission. The machines at issue are ES&S M-100 optical-scan machines, which read and tally election results.
Johnson worried that such problems could affect the integrity of the general election this week.
"The same ballots, run through the same machines, yielded different results each time," she wrote, adding "This begs the question -- on Election Day, will the record number of ballots going through the remaining tabulators leave even more build-up on the sensors, affecting machines that tested just fine initially? Could this additional build-up on voting tabulators that have not had any preventative maintenance skew vote totals? My understanding is that the problem could occur and election workers would have no inkling that ballots are being misread."
Tuesday's election is expected to be the busiest ever, and ES&S tabulators were responsible for counting 50 percent of the votes in the last four major U.S. elections, according to the company. Some 30,000 of them are now deployed in 43 states.
Johnson, who could not be reached for comment, said that "four of our communities or eight percent" had reported inconsistent vote totals during the logic and accuracy tests with the ES&S machines. She also said that conflicting vote totals had surfaced in other areas of Michigan as well, though she didn't elaborate on this in her letter."While problems with performance and design with the M-100s have been documented, this is the first time I have ever questioned the integrity of these machines," Johnson wrote in her letter.
But according to news stories, a race in the August Republican primary in one Michigan township did have a discrepancy in tallies that were counted by hand and by ES&S optical-scan machines. The clerks race in Plymouth Township was recounted after the losing candidate requested it. The initial machine count had showed Joe Bridgman defeating Mary Ann Prchlik by 1,920 to 1,170. But the hand count narrowed the margin to 1,885 to 1,727. Officials attributed the discrepancy to "smears and marks" on the ballots, which skewed the results when they were run through the machines.
When the county met with ES&S to discuss the problems, ES&S maintained that the problem was dust and debris build-up on the sensors inside the machines.
"This has impacted the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) settings for the two Contact Image Sensors (CIS)," Johnson wrote.
Johnson also revealed in the letter that county officials are prohibited from performing maintenance or cleaning on the machines or they risk voiding ES&S warranties. ES&S has not performed any preventative maintenance on the machines since they were delivered three years ago.
Johnson closed her letter by urging the Election Assistance Commission to investigate whether vote totals could be affected by the failure to perform regular cleaning and preventative maintenance on the machines. She also requested a "federal directive or law" that would allow county clerks to conduct random audits to test machine accuracy using machines that have had preventative maintenance performed in the last year. She also urges officials to develop a plan for accurately canvassing election results.
"I believe this matter, which is not a partisan issue, but an issue of integrity, needs your immediate attention and I would urge you to investigate as so much is at stake," she wrote.
ES&S has not responded to a call for comment.
The Election Assistance Commission, which quietly posted the letter to its web site today, did not send out an announcement about the issue but simply included a link to the letter in a routine newsletter. A spokeswoman said she would have to get back to me to see if the EAC has sent Michigan a response.
The Commission was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to serve as a clearinghouse of election administration information and to oversee the federal testing and certification of voting machines, but has yet to certify a voting system under its program, which has had a slow start. The Commission has also been accused by voting activists of failing to monitor problems with voting machines and sharing crucial information that election officials need to know.
A Commission spokeswoman told Threat Level in September that since it didn't oversee the certification of any voting systems that are currently being used, it has no official role in monitoring the equipment and will only monitor voting equipment problems that occur with systems that are certified under its program.
John Gideon, co-executive director of Voters Unite, an election integrity group, said he hoped the Commission had notified other election officials in the country that use the machines.
"If they haven't done anything with it then how are they fulfilling their duties as a clearinghouse and passing on information?" he asked. "If they didn't do something with it, as far as I'm concerned it's misfeasance. They have a legal duty to warn election officials of problems."
Update: ES&S spokeswoman Jeanne Layson replied to my query and said that the letter from Johnson was stamped received on October 29 at the EAC office. But Layson said that EAC chairwoman Rosemary Rodriguez, to whom the letter was addressed, had left the office early that day at 3:30 for an interview with ABC's 20/20 program. Rodriguez did not return to the office until today when she noticed the letter and asked that it be posted to the EAC's web site.
No special announcement was sent to election officials, but Layson said that election officials do receive the weekly newsletter in which the letter was mentioned.
Below is an excerpt of the newsletter, which mentions Johnson's letter.
Source: Wired
