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NY Times, Electronic Voting Glitches |
To the Editor:
Re "Common Sense in Maryland" (editorial, March 23):
I
am the chief Democratic election judge for District 21, Precinct 2, in
Prince Georges County, Md. We have used the Diebold AccuVote-TSX
machines since the 2002 primary election. From the start they did not
encourage confidence in them.
When they were turned on in the
2002 elections, some of them refused to start unless we reseated the
memory cards. In the 2002 primary, one of the machines chose to lock up
just as the poor voter pushed the "cast ballot" button on the screen.
The technician we got in to check the machine insisted that the vote
was counted. Then why did we have 30 paper voter authority cards for
the machine and only 29 votes recorded?
In the 2004 general
election, two of our machines refused to start up. We got in another
two machines, and one of them refused to use the electricity from the
wall. Its internal battery was not enough to run the rest of the day,
so we shut it down. These machines are quality only if you spell
quality with a capital K.
Surely the Free State could find a far
more reliable replacement than Diebold's TSX machines. The rest of the
nation should, too. Preferably one with a good paper trail.
Paul D. Motzenbecker Jr.
University Park, Md.
March 23, 2006
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