연락하다:

Christy Setzer, New Heights Communications, christy@newheightscommunications.com

Mary Boyle, Common Cause, mboyle@commoncause.org

Voting machine preparation “inadequate,” but changes can be made by Nov. 6

WASHINGTON – A lack of effective voter protection measures place Delaware near the bottom of a ranking of states based upon its preparedness to successfully manage voting machine failures on Election Day, a new report finds.

The report, “Counting Votes 2012: A State by State Look at Voting Technology Preparedness,” was released Wednesday by three non-partisan organizations focused on voting – the Verified Voting Foundation, the Rutgers Law School Constitutional Litigation Clinic, and Common Cause. Despite Delaware’s low rating, the report emphasizes that election officials still have time to make changes in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 6 election.

“Delaware can still make improvements to prepare for the upcoming election,” said Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting. “No election system is perfect, and ensuring fair, accurate elections is a national effort. Everyone from election officials to citizens should be involved to make sure this process at the very heart of our democracy is healthy.”

Steps Delaware can take to improve election procedures by Nov. 6 include: upgrading ballot accounting and reconciliation practices, which would be able to catch machine errors; encouraging overseas and military voters to cast ballots by mail even if they have the option to vote via e-mail or fax; and ensuring that comprehensive contingency plans are in place (re-enforcing best practices from the secretary of state on down, for example).

많은 주에서는 투표기 오작동을 해결하거나 대비하지 않았고, 모든 국가 선거에서 투표 시스템이 실패합니다. 예를 들어 2008년에는 전국적으로 투표기 문제가 1,800건 이상 보고되었습니다.

“If history is any indication, machines in November will fail, and votes will be lost,” said Susannah Goodman of Common Cause. “Backup systems like paper ballots, audits and good ballot reconciliation practices need to be put in place to be sure outcomes are correct.”

Delaware received an overall rating of “inadequate” based on its performance in five areas:

. Does the state require paper ballots or records of every vote cast? (When computer failures or human errors cause machine miscounts, election officials can use the original ballots to determine correct totals. Additionally, paper ballots can be used to audit machine counts.)

. Does the state have adequate contingency plans at each polling place in the event of machine failure?

. Does the state protect military and overseas voters and their ballots from alteration, manipulation and privacy violations by ensuring that marked ballots are not cast online?

. Has the state instituted a post-election audit to determine whether the electronically reported results are correct?

. Does the state use robust ballot reconciliation and tabulation practices to help ensure that no ballots are lost or added as votes are tallied and aggregated from the local to state level?

In addition to Delaware, five other states were ranked near the bottom of the list – South Carolina, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana and Mississippi – while five states were ranked near the top – Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin.

러트거스 로스쿨 헌법 소송 클리닉의 공동 책임자인 페니 베네티스는 "2012년에는 어떤 투표도 잃어서는 안 됩니다."라고 말했습니다. "투표를 검증하는 기술이 존재하며, 헌법이 요구하는 대로 모든 투표가 투표한 것으로 간주되도록 전국에 절차가 마련될 수 있습니다."

The national election is more than three months away, and that leaves time for states like Delaware to make simple changes in some of the categories ranked by the study.

Click here to view the whole report.

Click here to view the executive summary.

Click here to view a chart of all the states’ overall assessments.