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| quote: | PSA: Super Duper Tuesday voting machines could be at risk
Attention voters: if you're casting your ballot for a special someone on this Super Duper Tuesday, you might want to hear what the folks over at Common Cause have to say. The nonpartisan, nonprofit voting machine watchdog wants you to know that six out of the 24 states involved in the presidential primaries today are using voting machines that are at "high risk" for malfunction or tampering. In all, 17 states have some risk factor -- based on the advocacy group's rating system -- though the machines in Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, and Tennessee are the most likely to give the votes to Darth Vader, Dr. Evil, or Lord Voldemort. You have been warned.
Source: Engadget |
Original text & source:
| quote: | Six states at “high” risk for voting machine mishaps on Super Tuesday
Six of the 15 states that hold presidential primaries on Super Tuesday are at “high” risk for having election results affected by electronic voting machine malfunction or tampering, according to a new report by Common Cause and the Verified Voting Foundation. Twenty-four states hold presidential primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5, but only 15 of them will use voting machines to select candidates.
In all, a troubling 17 states that will hold their presidential primaries over the next several months, including two that have already held them, are at high risk for voting machine mishaps that could change election results, the report shows. The states were given that ranking for using electronic voting machines that do not produce an independent, voter-verifiable paper record that could be used in the case of a recount or audit.
In addition, the report found 17 states to be at “medium” risk for having election results affected by voting machine failure. This classification was given to states that use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce a voter-verifiable paper record of each voter’s vote, but do not require audits.
The report found six states to be at “low” risk for a voting meltdown because those states use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce voter verifiable paper records, as well as require audits.
“It is senseless that after two presidential elections marked by voting machine failures that some states still use voting systems that do not produce a paper record that can be re-counted if there is a problem,” said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause. “Congress and the states must fix this problem by November. We can’t afford another national election in which voters don’t have full confidence in our election results.”
"The predominant voting systems we use, which tally electronically, have been shown repeatedly to have significant security and reliability weaknesses,” said Pamela Smith, president of the Verified Voting Foundation. “But where voters are able to check that their vote was recorded accurately on paper, that paper forms a tool we can use to reduce the threat. Post election audits using the paper ballots are the most important check and balance on the electronic tally."
The ratings for the 15 states holding presidential primaries on voting machines on Super Tuesday are below. Forty states, including the District of Columbia, are reviewed inside the report. The remaining states were not reviewed since they hold caucuses and do not use electronic voting machines.
Source: Common Cause |
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