A Talk Nation Investigation into AccuVote Optical Scan Machines used in the Second District recount reveals a lack of clear protocols on the handling of ballots and machines. There were paper trails, but also a trail of confusion over who should have access to the machines. Despite warnings in October from state voting machine evaluators the Secretary of State failed to provide adequate information.
Democrat Joe Courtney beat the incumbent Republican Rob Simmons by just 91 votes. The Secretary of State has not certified the results yet, but Simmons has conceded. What should we take away from the voting process? We look at the topsy turvey recount which took place in 10 towns in the 2nd district where Diebold’s AccuVote Optical Scan Machines were used for the first time. Voting officials seemed willing to allow machine reps from the provider, LHS Associates, access to work on machines, change memory cards, and even provide back up machines from the trunks of their cars, during the election and recount process. The State’s expert found serious vulnerabilities with the machine’s memory cards in October and yet LHS had plans to transfer them during the recount in the event of a machine glitch. That was not what state expert Professor Alex Shvartsman had advised but evidently the Secretary of State had not yet provided more tightly written protocols.We speak with the University of Connecticut’s Alex Shvartsman as well as Yale Professor Michael Fisher. LHS machine reps Tom Burge and Mike Carlson explain that they were using protocols from their company, not Connecticut’ s Secretary of State. Voting officials in tiny Ashford , Connecticut wrestle with the complexities of the new system. And no one could locate a written protocol from the Secretary of State’s office.Click hereto listen to her show. Produced by Dori Smith at Pacifica Affiliate station WHUS at the University of Connecticut in Storrs , CT. http://www.whus. orgTotal Running Time: 29:44http://www.radio4all.net for a faster download in 64 bitrate Mp3Or use this URL: http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo. http://www.talknationradio.org and http://www.talknation.org for transcripts and discussions
