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>
Dahil sa isang error sa programming, ang electronic iVotronic voting machine ay naiulat na hindi gumagana nang maayos ngayon sa Horry County, tahanan ng Myrtle Beach. Ang mga manggagawa sa botohan ay namimigay ng mga papel na balota sa mga apektadong presinto, ngunit ang ilan sa mga presinto ay iniulat na naubusan ng mga papel na balota at nagpapadala ng mga botante sa ibang mga presinto upang bumoto ng pansamantalang mga balota. Sinabi ng isang tagapagsalita mula sa South Carolina Election Commission na habang 80 porsiyento ng mga presinto ang naapektuhan sa Horry County, 12 hanggang 15 na presinto lamang ang may mga electronic voting machine na lahat ay hindi nagagamit kahit isang bahagi ng araw. Ang iVotronic voting machine na ginamit sa South Carolina ay ang parehong tagagawa at ginawa gaya ng mga ginamit sa Florida, bagama't iba ang modelo.<\/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