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| | Issue #21.03 :: 01/16/2008 - 01/22/2008 | S.C. Voting Machines Banned in Other States
Local Activist Says Machines Have a History of Problems
| BY MINDY LUCAS
| The S.C. Election Commission says it will continue using touch-screen voting machines even though the machines have come under fire recently in other states.
South Carolina began using touch-screen voting machines in 2004.
Both Ohio and Colorado have taken steps to ban the iVotronic — the same machine South Carolina uses — after a recent review by Ohio’s top election officials found that the machines have “critical security vulnerabilities.”
In a report published Dec. 14, researchers found that the machines were susceptible to hacking and could be corrupted with a magnet or handheld electronic device such as a Palm Treo “smartphone.”
S.C. Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire says the commission has reviewed the Ohio report but found “nothing surprising, alarming or new in it.”
“The report identifies known theoretical voting system vulnerabilities,” Whitmire says, adding that scenarios of someone using a device to change another person’s vote are highly unlikely in a real election. And, he says, he does not foresee a change in the state’s voting system anytime soon. “We are confident in the accuracy and security of South Carolina’s voting system.”
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The S.C. Election Commission says the state's voting machines are fine, but activists maintain they have a history of problems.
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But others are not confident in it.
Brett Bursey, director of the South Carolina Progressive Network, says touch-screen voting machines have a history of problems. “We had a number of calls to our election protection hotline in 2004 and 2006 with complaints that the iVotronic kept changing the candidate that the voter was trying to choose,” Bursey says.
He says the main problem his group has with the machines is that iVotronic does not allow for a voter-verifiable paper ballot. Bursey says a paper ballot is critical in the event of a recount. “It would also let the voter know their vote didn’t work at that very moment, while the problem is occurring, so that something could be done about it before the precinct closes and everyone goes home,” he says.
The Progressive Network has teamed with civic groups from Georgia, Iowa and North Carolina to urge presidential candidates to call for paper ballots in the upcoming primaries. The South Carolina Republican primary is scheduled for Jan. 19 followed by the South Carolina Democratic primary Jan. 26.
In the meantime, state Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, has sponsored legislation to require all South Carolina voting machines to produce a voter-verifiable paper ballot. “I can get a paper record with a $10 ATM withdrawal,” Leventis says. “Why shouldn’t I get one with my vote?”
“The election is the bedrock of the whole democratic process and unverifiable voting machines are just wrong for South Carolina and for the nation,” he says. “They are undermining our confidence in elections … and you have to have confidence in the system and free and fair elections.” | |
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