Diebold TSx's Flipping Votes in Georgia Primary

From: U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Subject: 3:30 in the afternoon and machines still recording votes for wrong candidate
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:48:30 -0400

One persistent problem with the Diebold electronic voting machines is their tendency to cast votes against the intentions of the voter. The voting day in Cynthia McKinney's primary began with voters complaining that their votes for McKinney weren't being cast for her, but instead for her opponent.

Interesting, no complaints have been lodged that this is happening in reverse--that is, that the computers are registering McKinney votes intended for any one of her opponents.

Team McKinney lawyers have affadavits from voters with complaints that they intended to vote for McKinney but that the machine switched their vote to one of her opponents. Other complaints involve staff insufficiently trained on the Diebold electronic pollbooks, thereby delaying voting, thus causing some people to have to leave for work. Voting times have been extended in some precincts due to official election staff admitting that they did not know how to work the machines.

Many voters were left not knowing where to go vote because the voting precinct had been changed and the voters were not aware of the change. In all, Team McKinney lawyers detailed numerous electronic voting machine malfunctions including machines breaking down in the middle of the voting process. One McKinney pollwatcher noted that at one precinct, the machine did not tally zero at the beginning of the voting day. Unexpectedly closed polling sites, combined with Tom Delay-inspired Congressional redistricting imposed on Georgia voters, electronic voting machine malfunctions--some even in the middle of the voting process--all led to a frustrating voting experience for some voters in the 2006 Primary Election held in Georgia's new Fourth Congressional District.

The phrase blind faith voting comes to mind. An after-election report of all the voting irregularities reported to Cynthia McKinney for Congress will be available to various electronic voting groups and others in Georgia and around the country upon request.