Should Exec Lamont McClure Resign Over Election Imbroglio?

State Rep. Milou MacKenzie, whose son is running for Congress, is calling for Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure's resignation over a coding error that was missed when the Express Vote XL voting system was tested prior to Tuesday's election.  McClure has dismissed it as a "relatively minor" error that only impacted the Superior Court retention races. But without question, it impacted the entire election. Machines were shut down in many precincts, and voters were asked to fill out emergency and provisional ballots. In others, voters were simply told to come back later. In still others, elections judges never turned on their phones instructing them to stop using machines. All of this undermines public confidence in our elections at a time when this keystone to democratic government is being assailed by Donald Trump and his myrmidons. It's especially troubling because this is the second time, In 2019, poor pre-election testing led to disaster at the polls. But rather than chop off heads, I'd like to see the L&A (logic and accuracy) testing improved. 

Some people are blaming the Express Vote XL machines. They also call McClure a sexist because of his "Milou who?" response to her attack.  That's ridiculous.

There is nothing remotely sexist in what McClure said about MacKenzie. The reason he would say "Milou who?" is because she only represents one or two precincts of this county and is largely invisible here. If you want to talk about sexism, look no further than GOP presidential contender Ramaswamy, who reffered to Nikki Haley as a "Dick Cheney with thre-inch heels."

As far the Epress Vote XL, it is the best voting machine out there. I say this as someone who worked with that machine. It gives you the convenience of a touch screen combined with a paper ballot receipt. It is the best of both worlds. It is also set up so that if one system fails, the other part will still work.

Unfortunately, we have a double error. First, the human error in coding the software. Then there was an error in doing the logic and accuracy testing. That is where this should have been picked up.

Although this error did only affect appellate court retention races, it screwed up the entire election. McClure has accpted responsibility.

I would not replace this system until its useful life is at an end. Doing so would cost millions in addition to the millions already spent, and would invite more errors as training on any new system is done. The proper thing to do is make sure you thoroughly test the machines. It is clear to me that the L&A testing was botched. ES&S failed to determine what would happen if you voted Yes in one appellate race and No in another. Had that happened on just one machine, the problem would have been discovered.

In any election, there are a finite number of selections possible. This finite number should be determined among the number of races out there and every possible combination should be tested. If you have just one race with four candidates, there are actually 24 different combinations or permulations. This is a branch of mathematics known as combinatorics. In this election with multiple races, there are several hundred thousand permulations. Just arriving at that figure would take me most of a day, let alone testing them.

My own knowledge of math is quite rusty. I am barely competent as a scorekeeper in a game of Hearts. I would not expect any election officials to be familiar with discrete mathematics or factorials. This is why ES&S is used.

I will say that once the machines are nearing the end of their useful life, we should probably join Lehigh and start going exclusively with paper. But I would want to see the ballots maerked with priovacy curtains.