Intellectual Property Law

Touch-screen voting machines used yesterday in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, have been impounded on a judge's order after voters experienced problems on the machines when trying to vote a straight-party ticket.

County poll workers discovered around 7:30 am Tuesday morning that voters who chose to vote a straight-party ticket could not see their selections on the summary review screen. The summary review screen allows voters to verify that the machine has registered their selections accurately before they cast their ballot.

Northumberland County uses AccuVote paperless touchscreen machines made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold Election Systems), which are supposed to display the chosen candidate's name on the review screen. But voters who voted a straight-party ticket could see only a message saying they had voted a straight-party ticket.

After the discovery was made, voters were still allowed to vote on the machines, but Director of Elections Mary Thew told Threat Level that they were told that if they wanted to vote straight-party to also touch their choices individually on the screen after selecting the straight-party option to make sure their vote was registered.

Generally touching a candidate's name after a voter has already selected the straight-party ticket option will de-select the candidate on that machine, not select it. But Thew said the candidate names were showing on the review screen after voters selected them individually.

Representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties filed a complaint with the county court shortly before the polls closed at 8 pm. Around 9 pm Judge Charles Saylor issued an order directing the county to tally votes from the machine memory cards, then impound the machines with their memory cards until further notice.

Thew said all of the county's 185 machines were impounded.

Republican Senator John McCain won the presidential race in Northumberland County by 18,012 votes to President-elect Barack Obama's 13,555 votes. The county has about 54,000 registered voters, of which 24,769 are registered Republicans and 24,111 are registered Democrats. The voter turnout number and undervote numbers were unavailable. The county's election results tool was not working when Threat Level accessed it, and Thew said she did not have the numbers immediately available.

Thew said the county must begin its canvassing process Friday morning at 9 am and has 20 days to certify the election results. Officials are waiting for further instructions from the court about how to proceed.

The Democratic and Republican parties in Pennsvlvania did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

Premier Election Solutions also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prior to yesterday's general election, voters in Texas reported problems trying to vote a straight-party ticket during early voting in that state.

Voters in several counties reported that when they tried to vote a straight-party Democratic ticket, the machine flipped their choices to Republican candidates instead. In some cases, voters reported a problem only with the presidential race; in other cases voters reported the entire ballot being marked Republican by the machine. The machines involved in the Texas complaints were made by various companies, including Election Systems & Software, Premier Election Solutions and Hart InterCivic.

See also:

• Texas Voters Urged to Avoid Straight-Party Option After Vote-Flip Complaints
• Lab that Tests and Certifies Voting Machines Suspended
• Video the Vote Slammed Over Misleading Vote-Flipping Video
• Report: Magnet and PDA Sufficient to Change Votes on Voting Machine
• Voting Machines Switch Votes; Officials Blame Voters
• ES&S Voting Machines in Tennessee Flip Votes
• Texas Voters Urged to Avoid Straight-Party Options After Vote-Flip Complaints
• Law Center Sends Letter to States About Vote-Flipping Machines
• Votes Flipped in Ohio Race that Used E-voting machines