Texas Troubles for Hart InterCivic eVoting and Paper Systems

["Joe Pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>]

FYI.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/14056065.htm
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"An undetected computer glitch in Tarrant County led to inflated  
election returns in Tuesday's primaries but did not alter the outcome  
of any local race, elections and county officials said Wednesday. The  
error caused Tarrant County to report as many as 100,000 votes in  
both primaries that never were cast, dropping the local turnout from  
a possible record high of about 158,103 voters to about 58,000. [...]  
The problem stemmed from a programming error by Hart InterCivic,  
which manufactured the equipment and wrote the software for the local  
voting system. The system is designed to combine electronic early  
voting results and totals from paper ballots on Election Day."

http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=b5c1182c635f6be7
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"The cards printed fine, but postal service scanning machines had  
trouble reading many of the addresses, she said. [...] Problems  
retrieving data from the new eSlate system delayed the release of  
election results. The first returns, which included the results of  
the 5,700 early votes, did not emerge until 9:20 p.m. — two and half  
hours after the polls had closed. [...] Daigle said problems existed  
at at least two polling locations where the eSlate and eScan systems  
used in the election malfunction more than once."

http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/home/article/ 
0,1897,SAST_4943_4522634,00.html
[ alt url: http://tinyurl.com/flnpk ]
"Computer problems delay election returns"
"Problems with some of Tom Green County's new electronic scanners  
have delayed ballot counting in today's primary election, county  
elections administrator Mike Benton said. Of 20 scanners that arrived  
in the elections office by 8:30 p.m., Benton said three showed  
trouble shutting down. Others that have not been turned in also  
reported problems, he said."

http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/home/article/ 
0,1897,SAST_4943_4524711,00.html
[ alt url: http://tinyurl.com/ez85r ]
"Some machines designed to read the paper ballots refused to shut  
down when prompted, causing problems because the machines must be  
turned off to access the voting results. The machines — five or six  
in all, Benton said — were brought to the elections office, where a  
representative from Hart InterCivic, which provided the machines,  
fixed the problem. Additional problems also led to a delay in the  
tallying of election results, which were not released until 1:30 a.m.  
today. Scanners also had trouble reading mail-in ballots, Benton  
said, and some voting precincts conducted conventions to nominate  
delegates 30 minutes after polls closed, leading to a delay in  
receiving voting machines from those precincts."