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Man's Vote for Himself Missing In E-Vote Count
Catbeller writes "The AP is reporting that Randy Wooten, mayoral candidate for Waldenburg Arkansas (a town of eighty people) discovered that the electronic voting system hadn't registered the one vote he knew had been cast for him ... because he cast it himself. The Machine gave him zero votes. That would be an error rate of 3%, counting the actual votes cast — 18 and 18 for a total of 36." From the article: "Poinsett County Election Commissioner Junaway Payne said the issue had been discussed but no action taken yet. 'It's our understanding from talking with the secretary of state's office that a court order would have to be obtained in order to open the machine and check the totals,' Payne said. 'The votes were cast on an electronic voting machine, but paper ballots were available.'"
I live in a town of 100,000, but I drive through Waldenburg occasionally and all you would really notice if you drove through it is a gas station. It pretty much is just an intersection in the highway.
However, I am offended by the idea that an electronic voting machine is somehow overkill and wasted money for a town of 80 people. I guess when their equipment becomes obsolete by mandate that they will have to drive the 15 miles into a 'real' town or else be disenfranchised.
Is an optical paper scanner too much for 36 votes? I would say that it is by the logic presented here. Perhaps pieces of notebook paper stuffed into a fancy box with the word 'Ballots' written on the side with a fat sharpy.
That fancy computermitized technology is just too good for the small farming community of Waldenburg!