Voting technology 2008

Election Day

Computerworld tracks reports of e-voting problems in real time on Election Day.

Top Stories

While Minnesota preps for a recount of its close U.S. Senate race, e-voting problems apparently had little to do with the tight election.

Expanding early voting could help states work out a lot of e-voting kinks well in advance of election day, officials said.

Despite long lines and occasionally problematic e-voting hardware, U.S. elections took place without the hardware meltdown some e-voting experts and state officials had feared.

Election Day could be a long day for election officials in states relying on electronic-voting machines to record votes in the U.S. presidential election, if early reports of malfunctions are any indication.

About 35,000 students, faculty and staff at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., received an e-mail hoax from the provost's office saying the presidential election had been postponed to Nov. 5.

E-voting technology has come a long way since the 2000 U.S. presidential election. But has it come far enough to deliver a smooth election?

Todd Weiss keeps you up to date on the latest voting technology news.

Computerworld is tracking recent reports of e-voting incidents in the U.S.

Just about everything you want to know about the U.S. elections is online. You just have to know where to look.

What happens when you combine long lines of voters with sometimes balky voting technology? E-voting critics are watching a handful of states for problems on election day.

Princeton computer science professor Edward Felten explains some of the specifics of what can go wrong with e-voting in the presidential election, what voters should do and what and what they ought to do for the next election.

"Vote flipping" by touch-screen e-voting machines is caused by user error, according to the manufacturers of the devices. But e-voting critics blame bad hardware design.

Court-ordered analysis charges the systems can be compromised in seven minutes; vendor Sequoia challenged the findings, arguing tests used unreasonable conditions.

Early voting is underway in many states, where voters are casting their ballots before Election Day and avoid the long lines expected on Nov. 4.

Election officials around the nation are ramping up efforts to ensure secure and fair voting on Nov. 4. For some, that means switching from touch-screen voting machines to optical scanning of paper ballots.

In the wake of yet another Florida voter recount controversy, election officials are being advised to adopt better record-keeping and provide additional oversight.

Premier Election Solutions says Ohio problem was the result of a logic error in GEMS code.

A coalition has urged state officials to require post-election audits of e-voting systems.

Polling stations using electronic systems suffered more voting discrepancies than those with traditional paper votes in four recent French elections.

Opinion

What's intuitive and simple for a system designer isn't necessarily easy and obvious for users. Which brings us to tomorrow's election.

It's time for us geeks to come to the rescue, with a little help from Congress.

The e-voting critic talks about the inherent weakness of software, the critical need for audit trails and the 'perfect storm' of the 2000 election.

While you may think the voting issues associated with the elections in 2000 and 2004 have been resolved, you'd be wrong. And, there's a new call to go back to paper.

Those of us who vote on paperless machines, whether with touch screens or levers, can never be confident that our votes will be properly submitted, registered and counted, says online managing editor Sharon Machlis.

It's a shame that a couple of states are finding it necessary to take steps backwards when it comes to recording American voter ballots.

Richi Jennings watches voting machine problems that cause voters to worry there ballots may not be counted.

Voting technology state by state

Click on the graphic below to see a larger, interactive map showing voting technologies and vendors in each state for the 2008 presidential election.

Poll

From the archives

Do you know your DREs from your VVPATs?

Every tested machine had problems -- yes, every single one.

The use of touch-screen voting systems is down, and skepticism is up -- way up -- as the 2008 election season confronts the realities of electronic voting.

Experts worry more about system errors than does the public.