Problems with electronic voting machines in today's Republican South Carolina presidential primary and reports that voters were being turned away from the polls as a result of those problems underscore the need for Congress to move swiftly to provide states with funding to have emergency paper ballots on hand in the event of a machine failure and to replace paperless voting systems so that meaningful recounts and audits can occur. <\/p>
\"Voters are understandably outraged that in this important primary election they could not exercise their right to vote because of the machine malfunctions,\" said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause. \"This was a preventable and foreseeable crisis. Congress and state election officials must move fast to fix this problem by the general election in November.\" <\/p>
Aufgrund eines Programmierfehlers funktionierten die elektronischen iVotronic-Wahlmaschinen heute in Horry County, der Heimat von Myrtle Beach, Berichten zufolge nicht richtig. Wahlhelfer verteilten in den betroffenen Wahlbezirken Stimmzettel, aber in einigen Wahlbezirken waren die Stimmzettel angeblich ausgegangen und W\u00e4hler wurden in andere Wahlbezirke geschickt, um provisorische Stimmen abzugeben. Ein Sprecher der Wahlkommission von South Carolina sagte, dass zwar 80 Prozent der Wahlbezirke in Horry County betroffen waren, aber nur in 12 bis 15 Wahlbezirken elektronische Wahlmaschinen vorhanden waren, die alle zumindest einen Teil des Tages nicht funktionierten. Die in South Carolina verwendeten iVotronic-Wahlmaschinen stammten vom gleichen Hersteller und wurden vom gleichen Bausatz hergestellt wie die in Florida verwendeten, obwohl das Modell ein anderes war.<\/p>
Common Cause is pushing for emergency legislation that would provide funding for the 20 states, including South Carolina, to print up emergency paper ballots and to replace paperless voting systems like the iVotronics machines, which can't be subject to a meaningful recount or audit. The Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008 (HR 5036), introduced Thursday, is a critical first step in addressing what could be nothing short of a national emergency around the presidential election. <\/p>
\"Paper never fails to boot up\" said Duncan Buell, author of a white paper detailing problems with the iVotronics voting machine. \"We need to replace the system we have here in South Carolina and we definitely need to have emergency paper ballots on hand in case of machine failures next week.\"<\/p>"}}]},"yoast_head":"\n