Undecided Minnesota Senate Race Used Machines that Flunked Accuracy Tests
Wired Blog Network. November 5, 2008. By Kim Zetter

Voting machines that recently failed pre-election accuracy tests in Michigan are at the center of a disputed U.S. Senate race in Minnesota that hangs in the balance over fewer than 500 votes at press time.

Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman is leading Democratic challenger, and former Saturday Night Live comedian, Al Franken by less than half of 1 percent in a race with almost 3 million ballots cast. The narrow margin will trigger an automatic recount under Minnesota law.

But recent claims by an election official in Michigan indicate that the model of voting machines used statewide in Minnesota failed to record votes consistently and accurately in Michigan.

On Monday, Threat Level published a letter written by a Michigan election clerk to the chairwoman of the federal Election Assistance Commission asserting that optical-scan machines made by Election Systems & Software failed pre-election tests because they counted votes incorrectly.

Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson wrote in her October 24th letter that the ES&S M-100 optical-scan machines had inconsistently counted the same ballots that were repeatedly run through the machines during tests. She said that "four of our communities or eight percent" had reported inconsistent vote totals during logic and accuracy tests and that conflicting vote totals had surfaced in other areas of Michigan as well, though she didn't elaborate on this.

"The same ballots, run through the same machines, yielded different results each time," she wrote EAC Chairwoman Rosemary Rodriguez.  "This begs the question on Election Day, will the record number of ballots going through the remaining tabulators leave even more build-up on the sensors, affecting machines that tested just fine initially? Could this additional build-up on voting tabulators that have not had any preventative maintenance skew vote totals?

"My understanding is that the problem could occur and election workers would have no inkling that ballots are being misread," she added, also saying that "this is the first time I have ever questioned the integrity of these machines."

Johnson also revealed in the letter that county officials are prohibited from performing maintenance or cleaning on the machines under risk of voiding ES&S warranties, and that ES&S had not performed any preventative maintenance on the machines since they were delivered three years ago. She also said that ES&S had concluded that the problem was dirt and debris build-up in the machines.

ES&S has disputed Johnson's claim in an e-mail sent to Threat Level. The company said Johnson misrepresented the issue and that the problem was operator error that, once corrected, resulted in accurate vote totals.

Johnson has since issued only a brief statement and said she would not be available to discuss the issue further. "As soon as I became aware of local clerks’ concerns, I immediately notified the appropriate election officials regarding those concerns," she said in the statement. "We do have a plan of action that in the event of a recount in close races, ballots will be recounted by hand."

Minnesota uses the M-100 optical-scan machines in nearly every county. But Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said he wasn't worried about the machines and found Johnson's claim that neither the county nor ES&S had performed maintenance on their M-100s to be "outrageous."

"I just couldn't imagine what they were thinking not maintaining their machines," he told Threat Level, adding that in Minnesota "we maintain them, we test them, we post-election random test them" and they are "unbelievably accurate, much more accurate than people."

Coleman and Franken's campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.

Three other U.S. Senate races hang in the balance, with Republican incumbents in each of them currently holding narrow leads against their opponents while absentee and provisional ballots continue to be counted. At least one race is likely to be decided by a runoff in December.

Should Democrats win all four seats, the party would hold a filibuster-proof majority with 60 seats in the U.S. Senate.

Threat Level has listed the races below, along with the voting system used in each of the elections.

Alaska

Republican Senator, and convicted felon, Ted Stevens is leading Democratic challenger and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 48.2 percent to 46.7 percent. Some 49,000 absentee, early votes and provisional ballots remain to be counted. If Stevens wins, it's unclear if he'll resign or face possible expulsion by his Senate peers. If either happens, there's talk of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin running for his seat. Voting System: Alaska uses optical-scan machines made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold) statewide.

Georgia

Incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss seized only 49.9 percent of votes so far, narrowly missing the 50 percent majority that is required in Georgia to avoid a runoff race. Therefore he'll likely face off against Democratic challenger Jim Martin in a December 2 runoff election if some 50,000 absentee and other ballots that are still being counted fail to tip his percentage numbers. Voting System: Georgia uses AccuVote paperless touchscreen machines made by Premier Election Solutions statewide.

Minnesota

As mentioned, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman leads Democratic challenger Al Franken by about 477 votes. A recount, if needed, will not begin until mid-November after the state completes its canvas of the election. Voting System: Minnesota uses M-100 optical-scan machines made by Election Systems & Software nearly statewide. A small handful of counties use other models of ES&S optical-scan machines, such as Optech III-P Eagle and the Model 150 and Model 650. Four counties use AccuVote optical-scan machines made by Premier Election Solutions.

Oregon

Incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith is currently leading Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley by less than 1 percent. Voting System: Oregon uses mail-in paper ballots statewide that are read by a variety of optical-scan systems from ES&S and Sequoia Voting Systems. It's the first state that's gone entirely postal.