More voting problems in Florida:
Symptoms consistent with a known software flaw in a popular electronic voting machine surfaced widely in a controversial election in Sarasota County, Florida, last November, despite county officials' claims that a bug played no role in the election results, according to documents obtained by Wired News.
Activists say the flaw might have contributed to the high number of lost or uncast votes in a now-contested congressional race.
Incident reports from the election reveal Sarasota County poll workers from at least 19 precincts contacted technicians and election officials to report touch-screen sensitivity problems with the I-Votronic voting machine. In those incidents, voters were forced to press the screen harder and repeatedly to register a vote. The complaints mirror the symptoms of a bug that the machine's maker, Election Systems & Software, revealed prior to the election in a warning unheeded by the county.
These problems happened on a smaller scale in the previous election according to documents, but denied by the supervisor of elections Kathy Dent. Election Systems and Software suggested a sign be posted indicating the need to press the screen firmly for several seconds to insure the vote was recorded, but Dent put up signs without this critical information.
18,000 ballots recorded no vote in the Senate race which was "lost" by Christine Jennings by less than 400 votes. Numerous voter complaints were ignored or dismissed as ballot design problems in spite of the known software flaws.
