Election 2004 E-Voting Incidents
from the Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS)
 
Election Verification Project Press Conference
November 18, 2004
 
Summary:

  • Significant e-voting problems
  • Almost all vendors' products and models
  • Most jurisdictions where e-voting installed
  • Impacted at least tens or hundreds of thousands of voters
     
    Results:
  • Calls fielded by Election Protection Hotline: 175,213 (87,841 on E-Day)
  • Incident reports in EIRS: 34,000+ and counting (23,726+ on E-Day)
  • 'Machine Problem' incidents: 1,876+
  • E-Voting incidents: 895+
  • Preliminary findings from sample that's still growing, yet not statistically robust
     
    Notable Incidents / Clusters
  • Florida: Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties
  • Louisiana: Orleans Parish
  • New Mexico: Bernalillo County
  • North Carolina: Carteret County
  • Ohio: Franklin and Mahoning Counties
  • Pennsylvania: Dauphin, Mercer, and Philadelphia Counties
     
    Next Steps
  • Further analysis and reporting of e-voting problems as well as other voting technologies
  • Discussions with election officials, voting technology vendors, and policymakers to improve elections process, technology, and regulation
     
    For more information:
  • EIRS incident database at:
    http://voteprotect.org/epc/ (click on "Research/Maps")
  • More about Verified Voting Foundation and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility joint development of the EIRS:
    http://verifiedvoting.org/eirs/
  • Election Protection Coalition member organizations:
    http://www.electionprotection2004.org/coalition.htm
     
     

    Election 2004 E-Voting Incidents
    from the Election Incident Reporting System
     
    Election Verification Project Press Conference
    November 18, 2004
     
    E-Voting Problems Reported:

  • Machine breakdown
    (total malfunction, sometimes entire polling places, power/battery failures, machines locked, long lines, voters turned away)
  • Misrecording (Kerry recorded as Bush and vice-versa, touchscreen calibration)
  • Vote switched
  • Overcounts and undercounts
  • Wrong ballot or race/candidate/party slate missing or not working, no write-ins
  • Prefilled ballot choice
  • Straight ticket sticking
  • Unintended deselections
  • Forced votes to complete ballot
  • Indicates “challenged ballot”
  • Not responding to human touch, just pencil eraser
  • Disabled accommodation disables other machines at polling place
  • Non-”accessible” voting machine, audio component not working
  • Premature casting
  • Overwritten votes (prior uncast)
  • Switched language (English to Spanish), or Spanish-only
  • Vote card times out, rejected, stuck, not reset, or cancels ballot
  • Claims vote cast after card removed
  • Blank screen / screen goes dark
  • Missing or poor distribution of machines
  • Audio offers only one candidate
  • No paper ballot alternative
  • Paper ballots treated as provisional
  • Told to use demo machine
  • Inadequate poll worker training
  • Not zeroed out at beginning of day
  • Security seals broken
  • Infrared port available
  • Cascading error in machine cluster