And Buchanan? Buchanan’s funneled nearly $1.25 million of his own cash into his campaign, money he earned at least in part by bilking his customers, if you believe the lawsuits filed against him. Of course Buchanan denies the lawsuits that charge Buchanan and his car dealerships of defrauding automakers and consumers, and of violating campaign finance laws.
As for conspiracies, one company’s lapse in quality and another politician’s dubious win do not remotely rise to the level of conspiracy or even mischief. However as the list of questionable circumstances grows while continuing to roil around the common ES&S core, it is worth noting. So to the growing band of shady hands-on players that includes George W. Bush, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Michael Connell, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, Florida Secretary of State Sandra Mortham, U.S. Representative Tom Feeney, and ES&S, add SysTest Labs and Rep. Vern Buchanan.
ES&S iVotronic Error Highlights
The following summary highlights some of ES&S iVotronic failures during the past several elections. Except where noted, the information was pulled and consolidated from VotersUnite.org’s Malfunctions and Miscounts report.
The Malfunctions report is well referencing in its more user-friendly format on VotersUnite, especially if your state is not included on this list and your voting system is one of the other voting systems tested by SysTest Labs.
Arkansas, 2006. (1) Voting machine malfunctions in three counties affecting 10,000 voters. (2) Optical scanners jammed, touch screens ran out of paper, and there weren't enough back-up paper ballots at the polls.(3) ES&S election software malfunctions, and ES&S programmed the ballots incorrectly. 2000. More than two dozen voters reported that the Touch screens register votes incorrectly, displaying the wrong choice.
Indiana, 2004 – four counties. ES&S installed an uncertified version of firmware in the iVotronics in four counties. The certified version didn't tabulate the votes correctly.
Indiana. 2004. (1) 50,000 voters eliminated when the electronic voting machines reported 300 voters in every precinct. (2) 2004. Paperless iVotronic voting machines recorded phantomballots, that is more ballots than the number of voters signing in to vote. At others, there werefewer ballots than voters.
North Carolina. 2004. Touch screen register incorrectly on the touch screen. 2002. Machines lost 436 ballots in early voting.
Pennsylvania. 2006. Unofficial tallies differ by nearly 6,000 votes from official ballot counts. (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
South Carolina. 2006. Problems occurred in 13 precincts, machines locking up, drained batteries and incorrect closing procedures. 2005. Initial results for the County Council seat showed 2440 phantom votes — 3208 votes, 768 voters. The corrected results overturned the Democratic primary. 2004. Officials can't retrieve 200 electronic votes from a malfunctioning iVotronic electronic voting machine.
Texas. 2004. Touch screens register votes incorrectly on the screen. 2002. A ballot programming error tallies 18 results incorrectly; Machines register incorrect choices on the screen.
