Since the voting machines have been impounded, it will be next month before Electronic Systems & Software (ES&S) can determine what went wrong, and even more importantly, why the "logic and accuracy" testing done each machine failed. This error affected both the computer printouts when the polls closed as well as the flash drives in each machine. Under these circumstances, how can we say that the know the paper ballots are accurate? This is a question I had last week. This concern is what led Council member Peg Ferraro to say she has "no confidence in the paper ballots."
As I thought about it, I realized the paper ballots are accurate. The reason is because every person who voted on the Express Vote XL had an opportunity to review his ballot. If the programming error extended to the ballots, votes for Kassis would have shown up as no vote or as a vote for someone else. If that happened, sooner or later, voters would notice and reject their ballot. With a second and third ballot, this mistake would continue. But that never happened. No voter has stepped forward to claim his choices failed to appear on the paper ballot. So I am confident in the accuracy of the paper ballot.
This is called redundancy. It's why The Express Vote XL, despite its inauspicious debut, was the correct choice.
Had we relied on paper, the scanner could read the selections incorrectly. It could fail completely. I prefer having two redundant systems, which is what The Express Vote XL provides. ES&S, which serves 3,000 of the nation's 10,000 voting jurisdictions, has a compelling business interest in finding and eliminating its error. It also needs to adjust machine sensitivity. Its business reputation demands nothing less. Other Pa. counties may shy away from this system because of our negative experience, but the system is working fine in New Jersey, Delaware and South Carolina.
Having said that, next year's election is a Presidential race, and turnout will be heavy. For that reason, I have three recommendations aimed at enabling people to vote quickly.
1) We're Gonna' Need More Voting Machines. - My experience is that that it took voters slightly longer to vote with the Express Vote XL than with the previous touchscreen. Some people insist it took a lot longer. If there are more voting machines in the county's 125 precincts, it necessarily follows that voting will be quicker. I would buy an additional 125 machines, and buy them now so we can take advantage of the 60% match being offered by the state. This assumes that ES&S finds and remedies its software problem.
2) Get Electronic Poll Books Already! - When you go to vote, you need to check in first. Once your name is located, which seemingly takes forever, you can sign it and then stand in another line to vote. Electronic poll books, known as e-poll books, can help a poll worker find you right away. What's more, if you are at the wrong precinct, it will tell workers instantly where you need to go. This is a big time saver, and was in place in about half of all voting jurisdictions in the 2016 Presidential race. It's been used in Lehigh County for the last three election cycles, and poll workers there tell me it's great because it saves you time.
Northampton County has been reluctant to order them because of the danger of cyberattack. This is why you would use an e-poll book that has been hardened against accidental or malicious tampering with a wireless private network that is thoroughly tested. Pennsylvania has certified e-poll books.
3) All Hands on Deck! - The County should seek volunteers from its workforce who are willing to spend their eight hours on election day assisting poll workers. If they are not registered voters or do not live within the county, they can still help manage lines. If they are registered voters they can take an oath and assist people signing in.
51 comments:
Are you nuts? It is time to give the election Commission control; of this entire affair. McClure took control of it and put an inexperienced political patronage hire in charge of this important task. Time to let the Election commission and the voter office do their jobs without interference.
The Voter Chief ahold be an independently elected position. There is great concern that the administration wants to control any investigation into the multiple problems. Even you condemned others for wanting to look into things.
As you said, this was a disaster.
Third party audit of the machines is needed. ES&S should not be allowed to do this if you really want to trust the diagnosis and fix the problem. More machines?? BS supposedly more machines were purchased than we had before! And please stop using the pic of the layed off custodian of machines, especially since not having his many years of experience there was possibly part of the L & A testing problem.
Excuse me Bernie, but you're dead wrong about the paper ballots not being able to be checked for a accuracy of the vote. Are you forgetting that the hand done ballots ARE the vote and can be counted if needed and NOT printed out by machines?? Seems even more accurate.
"Third party audit of the machines is needed. ES&S should not be allowed to do this if you really want to trust the diagnosis and fix the problem. More machines?? BS supposedly more machines were purchased than we had before! And please stop using the pic of the layed off custodian of machines, especially since not having his many years of experience there was possibly part of the L & A testing problem."
ES&S is the only entity that can diagnose and fix bc much of this voting machine is proprietary. I am sure they will solve this problem,and will be able to demonstrate it to the satisfaction of everyone except those who have a paper ballot bias like you.
We did not many more machines than we had before There are about 50 extra. We need 125, one for each precinct, to make the lines move faster, unless you don't care about voters and want to suppress the vote. We also need county worker volunteers willing to work their eight hours at the polls or assisting the registrar's office on election day. Finally, we need e-pollbooks, assuming that cyberattack concerns can be overcome.
The picture used is not the custodian of these machines. He is a current and active member of the voter registration office and you're right, he has many years of experience.
"Excuse me Bernie, but you're dead wrong about the paper ballots not being able to be checked for a accuracy of the vote. Are you forgetting that the hand done ballots ARE the vote and can be counted if needed and NOT printed out by machines?? Seems even more accurate."
And if the scanner fails, you're left with a laborious hand count and questions of voter intent. I'd prefer NOT to be Florida.
I like the redundancy of the Express Vote XL.
Yeah I'd rather have a scanner that might be misreading the paper slip be the final say in a recount rather than ACTUAL human Mark's being counted with ACTUAL HUMAN EYES....NOT!
People didn't check paper ballots because they couldn't read them. You don't know that they were correct.
Let's talk about that printout that the Express Vote XL provides at the end of each voter session. It is not a paper ballot in the traditional sense, as the voter never touches it. On Election Day, voters were to review their choices on the printouts which were difficult to read because the booths were dark and the tubes holding them were close to the floor.
Why are these printouts suspect? One, the offices and candidates don't line up on them, making checking difficult. Two, in my small circles, a number of voters admitted that they never reviewed them at all. How many others didn’t look? It seems at least 95, it seems, as 95 of those printouts delivered to the courthouse for post-election counting were blank. Why didn't the machines print on those? How many will get by next spring? How can 95 blank printouts make anyone think we should have confidence in this one final method of tabulating votes?
All in all, buying more machines from ES&S seems like putting good money after bad.
The inconsistency of the sensitivity of the screens was horrible! They are junk and this was not the place to work out the "bugs" before the upcoming elections. The ballots were challenging to read and I am sure people left in disgust without proofing their paper ballots. It was a fiasco and if Northampton County had a Republican in charge you would be howling instead of tempering your criticism for your best bud.
The available light in the voting shower stall that I used made it impossible for me to read the paper ballot. Also, the last name in the far right lower corner of the touch screen would not accept my choice. With persistence, I finally got my vote recorded as I listened to other voters complain about the length of time I was in there. Good job, Northampton County.
Lyndon Larouche 2020!
You've said yourself that budgeting out the Custodian of the Machines might have been a bad idea...yup. There were training weaknesses and inexperienced office staff at a time when it was needed most...a new machine rollout. Great planning whoever was responsible for that.
Go back to the old lever machines. Cannot be cyber attacked.
I echo complaints about being able to read the printed ballot before confirming. Between the poor lighting and devilishly small print, I failed the eye test, too. There has to be a better way. And yes, waiting for those kind poll workers to thumb through books seems to take forever.
System is ass backwards. Prints paper ballot before you finalize your vote. What happens to the paper ballot that is already printed before you finalize the vote and you need to make a change(s) ? Do you get a new paper ballot or does it actually cast two paper ballots on one. this in no way is secure or legal.
Gotta have a Wawa. At least the touchscreens work.
Charles Dertinger should have been fired over this. He is the one answerable to the County Executive for this particular division. Say what you will about John Conklin, when he brought in new voting machines, they were tested and rolled out flawlessly. No problems. But I'm sure, the current County Executive will insulate his political friend. Dertinger is one of the worst Director of Administration that this County has seen. He thinks he knows it all and talks incessantly about his time in New York. But this failure is on him. He needs to go.
"Gotta have a Wawa. At least the touchscreens work."
Best comment here. How much did that hilariously poor healthcare.gov website cost?
What happened to Dee Rumsey? Was she forced out?? People are talking.
@1:26
I believe O'hare mentioned a bad ballot and how it was handled in a previous post.
No. It doesn't cast two paper ballots on one, but I think you already knew that.
government and the political class can do nothing right except when it benefits themselves.we are well on our way to becoming a third world nation when trump goes the country will continue to look like California and our inner cities.
We all know a dummied down democrats built in the XL's faults intentionally.
anon 54:34, WAS Dee forced out? You probably won't get a straight answer to that question. She was not happy with some changes forced on her staff by the new Admisntration. They more than any one about anything, Just ask them.
I didn't even look at the paper printout of votes. I would not assume most or everyone did. I just wanted to get my vote cast, and pressed the button to make it happen. Didn't realize until the next day I hadn't looked.
Northampton County “Groundhog Day” Update: Found: 200 votes missed on Election Day. Lost; Trust from voters
What other problems can be expected ?
All this nonsense is part of the dastardly Democrats' scheme to steal the 2020 elections. Why do you think Wolf mandated all this unnecessary mayhem?
What are you people worried about? There is no problem to see here. Lamont is out doing his personal appearances with his taxpayer paid photographer. So why worry about a silly election, he's not, not when there is another photo op waiting.
4:31 PM - You hit it on the head with getting rid of Dertinger, but the rest (McClure, the Cabinet, and the political clerk) need to go too!
Oh how it only continues to get better for Northampton County and the election. Now a couple hundred of votes are found just lying around that weren't counted? No effect on the judge race, sure but the local races in that township absolutely. It continues to show how piss poor this election was ran. If McClure was smart he'd come out and just own it and say how piss poor this was and how they are really looking in to not only the machines but the process as a whole. They are dragging their feet hoping to make this go away. Democrat or Republican be damned just be transparent, if there was something wrong just say so. Prove to everyone they can trust this process going into 2020 because with faulty machines, votes not being counted, and clearly a process that isn't even close to perfect this isn't going to bode well for the county leadership.
That’s not really an issue and happens in every election. It is, as someone told me, a extra kick on the shin. The teal problem was the programming error and the failure to catch it.
UNACCEPTABLE!
PERIOD!!!!
Wait your going to sit there and tell me every election hundreds of votes go uncounted? That's what makes it okay? Whoever told you that should be fired or prove it.
The whole thing is a failure and yet no one will own the whole snafu. It's the typical we will be better speech. How will you be better. Break this down from why the programming error happened, to once you knew about it why didn't you fix it and wait until after the polls closed. Why were hundreds of votes found lying around not being counted. This was millions of tax payer dollars on the line and now the county is burning through more money and manpower hours trying to unscrew this.
Bags of hundreds of votes are skipped over in EVERY election?..wow, and you say it is NOT an issue!
Sorry Bern, but you are dead wrong on this one
It might not be 200 votes, but mistakes like this happen in every election. An election judge placed a black box (sealed) in the wrong bag. It is salt in the wound, but the real problem is the programming error.
Also, a canvass is done in every election. No one is wasting taxpayer money.
"Northampton County election officials on Tuesday uncovered more than 200 votes" from the Morning Call Directly......secondly, it's not the canvass I'm talking about. It's everything else they now are going to have to do in order to fix the multiple errors. Do you think this company who they bought the Machines from is going to work for free? Do you think all the lawsuits I'm sure that will be filed won't cost the taxpayers money for legal council, etc. Bernie this goes deep. They knew the election was coming and they didn't test the machines or the processes clearly. In the private sector you get fired for something like this but in typical bureaucratic faction the citizens are they one who are paying the price.
They knew the election was coming and they didn't test the machines or the processes.
Commenting on my 33 years working with highly sophisticated (ladder logic) production equipment no matter how many times we pre-tested, most of our equipment on the first run had plenty of bugs. On one of these it had to be shut down within minutes. We had around one or two feet of food product on the floor (around 3,000 lbs) It took almost 24 to clean up (throw away) before we dare attempt to restart again after software changes were made.
Man you people are tough. I'm assuming you're all perfect people. Ever try coding?
LVCI, actually yes I have tried and do coding myself for work. This isn't rocket science with regards to technology, they didn't build these machines specifically for Northampton County. They had plenty of time to test and re-test these machines to work out the bugs. Minor bugs will happen but these weren't minor bugs these were massive oversights. There was way to many "What Ifs" they did not think about and gave zero guidance on if and when they occurred. Was a representative from the company even here in the county during "Go-Live" doesn't seem like it. Once the problem was identified they should of stopped everything and fixed it then even if it meant delaying the election by a few hours. Instead they waited until 8pm after all the votes were cast and sort thru the mess which is now even murkier do to the fact no one has any idea what happened.
they should of stopped everything and fixed it then even if it meant delaying the election by a few hours.
So your saying they should have tampered with the software in the middle of an election despite having any idea what happened?
LVCI, this isn't a production attempt but hopefully an honest vote. Candidates and their supporters didn't overwhelmingly spend time and money so a software malfunction can determine an outcome. Should candidates be permitted a restart like you suggest? Paid positions and judges (lifetime appointment) are elected by machines that everyone involved claims programming and software malfunctions. Great just great.
LVCI they knew something was very wrong in the morning yet continued to let it happen. Here we are a week after and still have no idea what happened. I love your word "tamper" how about "correct" is the the word because clearly when you say tamper your inferring they would be "interfering with (something) in order to cause damage or make unauthorized alterations." when in reality they needed to correct it "free from error; in accordance with fact or truth." So yes wouldn't you rather fix a leaky pipe immediately instead of waiting until all the water runs out and even more damage has been done?
What we are supposed to believe as of right now is that people touched a computer screen, the computer didn't report numbers correctly due to a programming error yet there was no error on the paper ballots that were produced by said machine with a programing error? Seems fishy to me. And yet in 24hrs time they were able to count all the paper ballots and produce the correct results. Yet in over a weeks time we still have zero answers on anything.
Can someone please confirm which county employees are involved in the recount of votes. The employees of the voter register are certainly involved. The question is who else is involved from the Administration.
No one will conform or answer that question. This secrecy undermines confidence in the process. I implore someone probably the press to inform the public of which members of the county administration are involved in the recount.
3:07, no one was aware of a programming error untilAFTER the polls closed.and the everything did stop so the paper ballots could be counted.
3:32, you are full of shit. Canvassing is a completely open process done by elections staff and a few very capable election judges who have been doing it for years. You could watch it yourself, as I have done at times. But you would rather promote conspiracy theories
2:54, there were three reps from ES&S on hand in the county on Election Day. You are trying to create issues so that you get a second bite
anon 3:22 It was said that Dertinger and Amy Cozze are attending the recount. Why? Who knows.
Maybe because they are county administration. They have every right to be there. So do you. Instead of talking about who might be there and implying mischief that does not exist for purely partisan reasons, go and see for yourself, asshole.
Cozy, Dertinger, ESS, Election Commission, and Public should be there .....they own this
So you have political hire clerical secretary Amy Cozze who we put in charge of this important job and of course screed up. She may call herself the Queen of Admisntration but the proof is in this voter machine mess. Why would you have someone who is inexperienced and not trained in any way still involved in a mess she helped create. Take off the rose colored glasses Bernie. If this was Brownie's you would be going crazy.
She should go back to he desk that is not on the third floor. What about the raise?
As with the "person" Sunblest Holdings LLC, knowing exactly who the parents are is helpful in determining if you got "Snookered".
Who's "baby" is Election Systems & Software (ESS)? It's website says it partners with Homeland Security, no mention of the parents.
ESS has had lots of lawsuits since 2011. Voting machine contracts have been cancelled and many machines returned based upon poor performance..regardless of screen problems, laser problems, code problems, sensitivity, and lying about machine failures...history merely repeated itself in Northampton County
Post a Comment