Never too soon to start, early voters have begun complaining that the electronic voting machines being used in West Virginia are flipping votes from Obama to McCain, from Democrat to Republican. This has been reported in two counties so far. Jeff Waybright, Jackson County Clerk stated, "people make mistakes more than machines." Brian Wood, the Putnam county clerk, when asked about the voting irregularities said, "voting machines are very reliable. I hate the fact that stories like this are printed. It makes everybody get scared."
Well, yes Jeff and Brian. People do make mistakes, and we don't want people to be scared to vote. But really? We shouldn't print stories on voting machines not working correctly? Not even if just to warn people to make sure their votes are correct?
Remember, voting machines are supposed to have a maximum error rate of 0.0002% to be certified. The article from the Charleston Gazette noted 6 individuals who had issues out of about 1000 early voters. That's a 0.006% error rate. "The reaction time [on the machines] may be different. And when you hit the screen a second time, it cancels your vote," Wood said. Yet shouldn't mistakes made by people using the voting machines still count towards the overall error rate? Isn't poor usability a factor in errors?
Says Wood: "The best way to solve this whole problem is that before you leave the voting booth, make sure on the review screen that everybody you want to vote for is checked."
Great advice. Always check the review screen of your e-voting machine before submitting your vote.
The potential problem here though is when 30,000 people show up to vote in Putnam county on election day, and half the people have to call over a clueless poll worker to help them because their vote for Obama keeps going to McCain. Won't that lead to A) long lines, B) needing to extend voting hours or turn away people, C) people complaining of vote fraud, or D) people just submitting their incorrect votes out of confusion or not realizing what was going on? AKA, voter fraud and suppression?
UPDATE:
MSNBC reports on this today. West Virginia's Secretary of State to hold press conference on this tonight.
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