January 19, 2008 1:26
Electronic Voting Machine Problems in Myrtle Beach
Widespread electronic voting machines problems hit South Carolina's seaside towns Saturday, causing election officials to enlist sheriff's deputies to rush additional paper ballots to polling places, according to Horry County Republican Party officials.
The officials said they were confident that nearly every person who wanted to vote was able to cast a ballot. "People who came in to vote, when the machines were down, they had paper ballots," said Robert Rabon, the chairman of the Horry County GOP. "If they happen to be out of paper ballots they will take their name and call them when they have paper ballots again."
Rabon said that in Surfside Beach he visited one precinct where about five people had left their phone numbers, so they could be notified when additional paper ballots arrived. "There might have been an occurance where someone didn't want to vote on paper ballots," Rabon added. "I can't imagine why."
Another party official in Horry County, which includes the Myrtle Beach area, said that the problem started at the break of day. "The machines just did not work--almost all of them," says Cleo Steele, the executive committeewoman for the Republican Party in Horry County, which includes Myrtle Beach. "I am covering 10 precincts, and out of the 10 precincts only two opened up at 7 o'clock."
She said she was confident that all voters would have a chance to vote. "Nobody has been turned away," Steele said.
UPDATE: The McCain campaign released the following statement Saturday afternoon.
"We have received reports from Horry County that voters are being turned away from the polls, because electronic voting machines are not working and paper ballots are not available. Some voters say they are being instructed to return at a later time. We are disturbed by these reports and hope that this issue is resolved immediately. We encourage any voters who were turned away from the polls to return again to their polling place this afternoon to exercise their constitutional right to vote."
ANOTHER UPDATE: Horry County uses iVotronic Touch Screen machines, a product of Election Systems & Software, one of the nation's largest voting technology companies.
About Swampland
Ana Marie Cox, Washington Editor of Time.com, is the founding editor of Wonkette and the author of the novel Dog Days. Read more
Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of six books, most recently Politics Lost. Read more
Karen Tumulty is TIME's National Political Correspondent and has also covered the White House and Congress. Read more
Jay Carney is TIME's Washington bureau chief. He has covered the Clinton and Bush 43 White Houses as well as Congress. Read more
Jay Newton-Small has covered the Bush 43 White House and Congress since the DeLay era. Read more
Michael Scherer is a TIME Washington bureau correspondent covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Read more
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Reader Comments (14)
She said she was confident that all voters would have a chance to vote. "Nobody has been turned away," Steele said.
Of course one wonders if everyone will be so sanguine if this occurs in the general.....
Posted by Paul Dirks
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January 19, 2008 1:39 PM
Awww. Poor WALNUTS. Sucks being on the wrong end of a malfunctioning voting machine, doesn't it?
Posted by Cookie Puss
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January 19, 2008 1:57 PM
this is interesting...
the problem is with the "touch screen" machines being used in SC. But no one is using the words "touch screen" -- despite numerous articles earlier in the week about the SC's "controversial" decision to allow touch screen voting, all the reporting on this SNAFU is simply being described as problems with "electronic voting machines".
Posted by mediasux | January 19, 2008 2:29 PM
damn michael... you did your update using the words "touch screen" while I was putting together my comment about how nobody was using the words "touch screens"!
Posted by mediasux | January 19, 2008 2:31 PM
A software system design principle is that systems that are used infrequently but intensively are particularly susceptible to failure. A system used annually, or once or twice a year is not exposed to real world conditions frequently enough to ensure that it will operate effectively. The contrast with, say, an ATM or an electronic slot machine should be obvious.
Vote counting is not a good candidate for deploying software solutions. Systems that are very widespread, administered by inexperienced users and never tested at the level of intensity that occurs in actual usage will frequently fail.
It is instructive that a system as simple as adding votes up is so susceptible to failure in practice.
It really is time require paper ballots everywhere. They're cheaper to administer, auditable, have very low adminstrative skill requirements and require no user training.
The only benefit to machines is more rapid reporting of results. More rapid reporting of results serves nobody's legitimate interest; the application of the result of the election takes place well into the future. Moreover, since news services themselves pay for exit polls that are generally as accurate as the results, there is no case for electronic voting.
Posted by jayackroyd
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January 19, 2008 2:59 PM
bummer. please, remind me again. the corruption of these voting systems have long been known; whatever did st john the tortured do to ensure that the citizens of this country could have confidence that their votes counted?
hmmmmm?
sucks when he gets to be the beneficiary. lol.
Posted by linda2830 | January 19, 2008 4:18 PM
what kills me is that, in this case, there is simply no point in keeping the polls open later. The problem was discovered early in the day, and has been dealt with.
So why is St. John judge shopping?
Posted by mediasux | January 19, 2008 5:11 PM
Touch screen machines need to be banned for voting purposes. There is simply no practical way to safeguard their votes. At least with the optical scan machines, you have a paper ballot that can be used as a check and a backup, though you do need something like random audits to insure the integrity of the voting process.
Posted by monchie b. monchum
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January 19, 2008 5:14 PM
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Bill_Clinton_claims_he_witnessed_voter_suppression.html
Clearly, it IS time to send in BJ Clixon and Jiminy Crater, along with the UN, to investigate DNC voting irregularities and county deputies in New Hampshire, Nevada, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and Iowa.
Posted by QUESTION HILLARY
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January 19, 2008 5:49 PM
wow, nothing about the Nevada caucuses? There are a bunch of good stories there....
1) Hillary wins decisively over Obama, despite the union endorsement Obama got
2) Romney wipes out the rest of the field in Nevada... despite the fact that McCain is from neighboring Nevada
3) Exit polls show Paul in clear second place over McCain, while the results themselves give Paul the smallest of leads over McCain. The wipeout by Romney is bad news enough -- coming in behind Paul would look really bad for McCain.
Posted by mediasux | January 19, 2008 6:18 PM
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Bill_Clinton_claims_he_witnessed_voter_suppression.html
Who let the dogs out?
Posted by QUESTION HILLARY
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January 19, 2008 6:23 PM
based on calculations from CNN's exit poll, In SC McCain will get 31.4%, Huckabee 27.9%.
Posted by mediasux | January 19, 2008 7:10 PM
I see the Republicans are practising for the general.
Posted by Malcolm | January 19, 2008 7:22 PM
Why, then, are we using machines?
Paper ballots. Count them. Machines suck.
Those who favor convenience over democracy deserve neither. Quote by me, just now.
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BMO
Posted by Boyle M. Owl | January 20, 2008 12:22 AM