02.13.07
Texa Democrtic Party Sues Secretary Of State Roger Williams
Here’s the link, TDP FILES LAWSUIT TO ENSURE BALLOT INTEGRITY.
“With this lawsuit, the Texas Democratic Party is taking steps to safeguard the accuracy and security of each voter’s ballot and ensure Texas voters have confidence in our election system,” said Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie. “Protecting the integrity of the electoral process is not a partisan issue. Every voter deserves to cast their ballot with full faith that their voice will be heard, regardless of their political affiliation.”
On the eSlate machines, when a voter chooses a straight-ticket vote and then continues to select candidates of the same political party to “emphasize” their vote, the machine actually records the vote for that race as a no vote. This is inconsistent with the tabulation of absentee paper ballots in those counties, as well as electronic voting machines used in other counties across the state. The irregularities relating to the eSlate voting system have affected the outcome at least one race, located in Madison County. However, there are 101 other Texas counties that employed these machines in the 2006 election.
Excellent news!! There’s more, click the link above.
PDiddie said,
February 13, 2007 at 5:57 pm
“It’s not a bug; it’s a feature”.
Hart representatives have claimed that emphasis voting is not a programming error but a standard function of e-Slates. That explanation still puts their machines in violation of Texas election law, which states that votes must be tabulated and recorded “uniformly” throughout the Great State.
Hart, though, is not named as a defendant in the litigation; Secretary Williams, as supervisor of elections, must certify the voting mechanisms in Texas. All of them, whether paper ballot or DRE. Thus the heart of the matter, and the basis for the voter disenfranchisement complaint.
The TDP has a pretty good track record in the courts. I’m encouraged that some good things will come out of this.
wcnews said,
February 13, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I love that quote. I agree, voting machines changing votes is a feature.
If they can’t make their machines comply with Texas law it would seem that would be an automatic disqualifier.
I want a paper trail and cross-checking of vote counts too.