{news} More problems with Computer voting (Ohio)

[Green Party-CT]

Problems, praise for new voting machines in Cuyahoga County 
Voters react positively, poll workers frustrated
  By Sean Greene
electionline.org
  
  Cuyahoga County, Ohio - County voters along with hundreds of thousands of other Buckeye residents cast their ballots on electronic voting machines for the first time Tuesday. Response from those using the machines was generally positive. Response from those trained to work the polls was tepid. And by the end of the day, reports of voting machine problems from across the county demonstrated the difficulty of making the transition to the new technology.
  
  After years of casting punch-card ballots, made infamous in Florida in 2000 and recently ruled unconstitutional in Ohio, new Diebold AccuVote TSX machines equipped with a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) were rolled out in the county, home of Cleveland and more than one million registered voters. The county was allocated more than 5,400 machines by the state, with a ratio of one voting machine for every 186 voters. (For more statistics and details on Cuyahoga County voting, click here.) 
  
  The May primary seemed almost tranquil compared to the high turnout and long lines witnessed in November 2004. At many times throughout the day, poll workers outnumbered voters at some polling places. Of those registered to vote, approximately 25 percent were expected to go to the polls. (Final turnout numbers are not yet available.) 
  
  Voters like machines, some unaware of VVPATs
In Cleveland, voter Kay McCastle was the first to cast a ballot in her precinct and praised the touch-screen voting machines "They were fairly easy. I liked it," she said. McCastle, however, did not examine the VVPAT that offered a paper and ink version of her vote. 
  
  Broadview Heights poll worker Tim Klowchik saw similar behavior from voters. "Not too many look at the VVPAT," he said.
  
  One Richmond Heights voter who did look at the VVPAT initially thought it would be a receipt she could take with her. Poll workers clarified that the VVPAT was not a receipt and could not leave the polling place. [NOTE: Ohio State University's Dan Tokaji had his own impressions about Franklin County's machines as well.]
  
  David Stringer, voting in Shaker Heights, did express concerns - not about the machine's performance, but who made them. "I'd rather not have to use Diebold machines - because of their politics."
  
  He did add the machines were "perfectly convenient" and easier to use than punch cards, although he said he too was unaware of the VVPAT. 
  
  Judy Gallo of the Greater Cleveland Voter Coalition, a voting rights advocacy group, also noted the lack of attention to the VVPAT and expressed concern. 
  
  "I noticed that many voters did not compare their screen vote to the paper trail [behind] the glass. They 'heard' the machine doing something that sounded like printing, but they weren't aware they could lift up the 'flap' on the side of the machine and actually 'see' how their vote was being recorded on the paper trail. So there is much need for more voter education," she said.
  
  More detailed information about issues such as voters' use of VVPATs, voters' experiences with the new voting machines and the voting process in general will be available in the near future as two groups conducted exit polls in Cuyahoga County. One was conducted by the Greater Cleveland Voter Coalition. Another was conducted by the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners in conjunction with the Election Science Institute. 
  
  Problems
While voters were describing the voting system as easy to use and convenient, reports of problems began to emerge soon after polls opened at 6:30 a.m. 
  
  At Woodbury Elementary School in Shaker Heights, a poll worker explained how there were delays when the polls opened with only one machine working. It took a technician about a half hour or so after polls opened to fix the other machines, leaving voters waiting and at least one voter who had to leave with the hopes of coming back later to cast a ballot.
  
  As reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one polling place opened up nearly seven hours late due to problems poll workers had in setting up the machines and nearly 2 percent of the county's approximately 1,400 polling places were without functioning machines for up to two hours. Fifty memory cards containing vote totals were also missing, leading the elections board to consider using the VVPATs to get tallies. (The Plain Dealer has a timeline of events; for more coverage, click here.)
  
  Later in the evening, Cleveland city councilman Kevin Conwell stormed into the county elections office as votes were being counted stating that voting machine problems in his ward at Harry E. Davis Elementary School were never resolved and that the board of elections failed to help. Elections board director Michael Vu said he would look into what happened. 
  
  Possibly the biggest problem didn't even happen at the polls. Over 17,000 absentee ballots had to be counted by hand due to the absentee ballot counting system, produced by Diebold, not working properly. Officials are still trying to figure out the exact issue - whether it was the system itself or the paper ballots printed by a local company. Vu said that during logic and accuracy testing performed the day before the election, results were not consistent and he decided it would be best to do a hand count. 
  
  The hand count of the absentee vote and the missing memory cards have delayed the tallying process, and final results of the election were not known at the time of publication. 
  
  Poll workers give mixed reviews
Some poll workers liked the new machines - but the training they received left them less than impressed.
  
  At the Kiwanis Club in Richmond Heights, poll worker James Anderson said, "I like the new voting machines. I like this better [than punch cards]. The process is a lot faster and will be a lot faster when people catch on." In his polling place, one machine broke down and another's contrast was too dark - both quickly fixed by an election day technician. Anderson thought the training process was fairly easy, although felt perhaps there should have been more. He mentioned during his training a number of people left over concerns about not being trained enough.
  
  Newspaper reports indicate that upwards of 20 percent of poll workers did not show up on Tuesday. 
  
  In Parma Heights, three poll workers for one precinct voiced displeasure with the training they received. While they said the voters were happy, they were not. 
  
  "We were all pretty overwhelmed. The training wasn't well organized. There were too many things to learn in three hours," said poll worker Jan March. Extra training was offered on Sunday before the election, but when all three tried to go, the turnout for the training was much larger than expected and too crowded - in frustration they left.
  
  State Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, said she wants more detailed information about poll worker training and has asked the state to audit federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds to see where and how the money was spent on training - for poll workers and elections board staff.
  
  "It's not uniform across the state," Fedor said. 
  
  In a press release she said, "It is incredibly important that we know where the federal dollars from HAVA were spent. It is obvious that not enough money went towards poll worker training. We knew that this significant change was coming for years and election after election our poll workers and boards of elections staff are not trained properly on the new machines." 
  
  Ray Martinez, one of two Democratic commissioners on the four-member Election Assistance Commission, observed elections in both Franklin and Cuyahoga counties and witnessed some of the problems.
  
  "My general impression - growing pains," he said. "What I want to take back to the EAC is that in jurisdictions that make a complete transition from old voting technology to new, that's where we need 
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