Voting Machines and 'Calibration Drift'

An anonymous reader writes "Tuesday saw elections for school boards and city officials throughout Kansas. In Saline, ES&S voting machines in several locations were 'mis-calibrated,' and when the voter touched next to one candidate's name, the 'x' appeared next to another one. One person I talked to said he tried to vote three times before going to the 80-something-year-old election worker, who told him 'It was doing that earlier, but I thought I fixed it.' From the story in today's Salina Journal: 'The iVotronic machines used in Saline County are sold by Elections Systems and Software. In October, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law notified 16 secretaries of state, including Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, that the machines are known to record votes to the wrong candidate.' The county does calibrate the machines the day before each election, but, '... in conversations with ES&S on Thursday, [the county clerk] was told that the calibration might change during the day. "What they've seen is calibration drift on a unit," Merriman said. "They're fine in the morning, but by afternoon they're starting to lose their calibration."' There was also coverage of the problems when they occurred two days ago."

Drifting to the left

[John3]

My Motorola PDA can stay calibrated for weeks on end, and the touch-screen PC in my hardware store paint department has been calibrated for over a year, but they can't keep a voting machine calibrated for more than a few hours?

Now when the pundits say the electorate is "drifting to the left" we'll know it's not a political shift but just a calibration drift.

Re:The US needs a modern system

[Norsefire]

you'd have to miss by an awful lot ... You'd then also have to not be able to read ...

You overestimate the capabilities of the average voter.

Re:Calibrate Per Use?

[AlHunt]

Whenever I suggest this, however, I am told that elections in the USA are too complicated for paper and they have to use machines or they would never be able to count the results.

Careful - keep it up and the feds will appoint an "Election Czar". Or maybe the UN will send "observers".

Re:What the fuck kind of excuse is that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Could always vote by lining all the candidates up, and throwing rocks at everyone except the one you want to vote for. The one left alive is obviously the one who was most favored. The only drift then is if your aim is bad. I think it could work! Vote by stoning.

Re:Calibrate Per Use?

[aynoknman]

I live in Minnesota. Even pencils didn't save us from court appointed observers. Our Senate election is still up in the air.

Minnesota's problem is precisely that they didn't have electronic voting. That would have allowed the result to have been determined before the election.

Re:Calibrate Per Use?

[noidentity]

Or, for an even more reliable solution; The pencil.

That's too reliable, man! We can't leave the outcome of an election up to the voters!

which way?

[v1]

So, have we found it more common for the calibration to drift to the right, or to the left ?

Re:Unless this was the intented behavior...

[Repossessed]

How about both, if it was intended we off them for treason, if it was an accident for the sake of humanity. Everybody wins.

Well, almost everyone.

Re:a new low for /.

[dna_(c)(tm)(r)]

Now, give the keyboard back to your son and let him continue to read /.

Re:Wrong town name; it's actually 'Salina'

[innocent_white_lamb]

They must be taking the story with a grain of salt....

Re:a new low for /.

[Mozk]

Why would I work 14 hours for just a C-note? I'd want at least a major third on top of that.