| Date |
Problem Type |
State
|
Vendor
|
Description
|
| 11/30/2006 |
Malfeasance |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. Investigation reveals that Denver election officials passed up the tested e-poll book software used by Larimer County, which would have handled the load. Instead they hired Sequoia to develop the software they were not experienced to do. Sequoia officials claim no knowledge of having developed the software. Officials estimate 20,000 voters were disenfranchised on Election Day. Turnout was 68,000.
Story
Archive
Story2
Archive2
Story3
Archive3
Story4
Archive4
12/1/06 update. Documents refute Sequoia official's claim that they didn't know the software would be used for voter check-in. City auditor estimates the cost of switching to vote centers was significantly higher than if the city had remained with neighborhood polling places, which would have also avoided the massive Election Day problems.
Story
Archive |
| 11/29/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
CA |
Sequoia |
Riverside County. Sequoia Edge voting machines weren't working. No paper ballots for voters, so some voters used ballots for another precinct and modified them. Long lines, and machines ran out of paper. Some machines were delivered but never became operable for the election.
Story
Archive |
| 11/17/2006 |
Late counting |
CA |
Sequoia |
Riverside County. 100,000 absentee ballots remain uncounted 10 days after the election. The election office says they have never before received so many absentee ballots.
Story |
| 11/15/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NJ |
Sequoia |
Essex County. 24 Sequoia Advantage e-voting machines malfunctioned and were unable to be used in the election. 14 will have to be replaced because of circuit problems. Six other machines experienced switch problems on election day and were repaired in the field by technicians. One of three machines in West Orange broke down for an hour, "but a technician came to the site and showed poll workers how to fix the problem themselves, in case it were to happen again."
Story
Archive |
| 11/14/2006 |
Ballot printing |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. Sequoia misprinted the barcodes that identify precincts on absentee ballots, so the county has to sort 70,000 ballots into the 23 different ballot styles. "Sequoia's vice president of communications, Michelle Shafer, did not return four calls and pages seeking comment."
Story
Archive |
| 11/14/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. One of two absentee ballot scanners broke down and had to be replaced during the counting process on election day.
Story
Archive |
| 11/14/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NJ |
Sequoia |
Ocean County. Software "glitches" caused votes to be counted twice. "The voting machines appear to have properly recorded votes, but summary reports sent to the county were in error." Officials suggest that the Sequoia software didn't prevent the system from reading results from some machines twice, but they cannot explain how votes from one district were transferred to summary reports in another.
Story
Archive
11-16-06 update
County election officials suspect a software update from Sequoia came with a fault that doubled the count of about 150 ballots cast on a single Barnegat machine, then added 75 votes from that unit to a vote tally in a Lakewood district. "It's not in the machine. It's in the software that tallies the votes," said Gilmore, chairman of the county election board.
Story
Archive |
| 11/10/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
CA |
Sequoia |
Tehama County. A computer malfunction incorrectly labeled 500 paper polling-place ballots as absentee ballots. The Sequoia representative didn't know the cause of the problem. Assistant Clerk and Recorder Bev Ross said she was told machines had been incorrectly set to receive information for the wrong type of machine, although she wasn't certain of the cause Thursday.
Story
Archive
|
| 11/10/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NJ |
Sequoia |
Ocean County. Votes from one Sequoia Advantage memory cartridge were counted twice "and some were also added to vote totals for the U.S. Senate, county freeholder and county sheriff races in Lakewood." The problems, officials said, all stemmed from a fault in computer software provided by Sequoia Voting Systems."
Story
Archive |
| 11/10/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NV |
Sequoia |
Nye County. Flawed programming on the Sequoia touch screen system caused tally problems. The tally program would only read header cards in precinct order, and not all the precinct numbers are used in the county.
Story
Archive |
| 11/9/2006 |
Poor design |
CA |
Sequoia |
Riverside and San Bernadino Counties. Printer problems caused long lines and many voters left without voting. The culprit was the limits of the printer-verification system attached to Sequoia electronic voting machines, registrar officials said.
Story
Archive |
| 11/9/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
FL |
Sequoia |
Hillsborough County. An unknown cause hindered votes from being retrieved from three electronic voting machines. Sequoia technicians fixed the problem.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
CA |
Sequoia |
Santa Clara County. Five Sequoia Edge touch screens broke down.
Story
Archive
Personnel Experience
|
| 11/8/2006 |
E-pollbook |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. E-poll books failed, computers crashed and voting machines broke down across the city, causing long lines and waits up to three hours.
Story
Archive
Computer glitches prevented thousands of residents from voting, piles of absentee ballots are still to be counted, and Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher today asked that Denver's two elected voting commissioners - Susan Roger and Sandy Adams - resign and that the mayor fire Clerk and Recorder Wayne Vaden as well as the entire senior staff of the election commission, including executive director John Gaydeski.
Story
Archive
11/16/06 update. It is revealed that "Denver election officials never tested the capacity of the troubled computer systems they used to verify voter registrations on Election Day - an omission one computer expert called "shocking" and others said seemed shortsighted."
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
IL |
Sequoia |
Cook County. Serious data transmission problems slow the vote tabulation. David Orr is investigating whether it is Sequoia software, hardware, or both.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
Sequoia |
Alameda County. Poll workers in an estimated 100 polling places or about one in eight had ballots jam in legions of new optical scanners supplied by Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems. The problem apparently was the ballot itself, printed by a private contractor, K&H Integrated Print Solutions, in Everett, Wash. The ballots featured a perforated strip at the top with a voter number that poll workers were to tear off and hand to the voter before inserting the rest of the ballot in the optical scanners. But the perforations were poor to non-existent, according to poll workers and county elections officials, leaving a ragged edge that jammed in the scanners.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
CA |
Sequoia |
Alameda County. Nearly 100 of the more than 800 Sequoia Insight ballot scanners at polling sites jammed.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
E-pollbook |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. At the Convention Center, though 100 people stood in line, only 25 percent of the voting machines were in use at any given time, as poll workers tried to get verification of voter registration from computers that were frequently down. At Denver Botanic Gardens, more than 200 voters backed up in a line that stretched out of the gates and down the block more than half way to 11th Avenue. At Corona Presbyterian Church, voters were being told to expect about a two-hour wait as they snaked around the building. Many voters were unable to wait.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. Power failures, voting machines crashing, electronic poll books failing cause long lines and chaos in the Denver election. Judge refuses to extend the voting time. Voters are encouraged to go to other vote centers, but many vote centers are experiencing similar problems.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Accessibility problems |
IL |
Sequoia |
Cook County. Voter with visual impairments was given a paper ballot, no option to vote on accessible machine.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
IL |
Sequoia |
Cook County. Sequoia touch screens have failed, and many precincts have run out of pens used to mark the paper ballots. By 1:40 pm, the election office had received over 100 complaints.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
IL |
Sequoia |
Cook County. Reports from voters. Vote-switching on Sequoia touch screens AND the paper print of the votes. Problems ejecting the voter access card. On demand printers not working - voter couldn't vote. Polling places late opening. Voter access cards not accepted by the machines. Voter given incorrect e-ballot. Printer jams. Touch screen machines broken down. Voter card stuck in the machine.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NJ |
Sequoia |
Montclair. Three Sequoia voting machines were not working when the polls opened. Voters had to vote provisional ballots. One was replaced. The other two were eventually started.
Story |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NJ |
Sequoia |
Middlesex, Hudson, Camden, Passaic and Union Counties. Sequoia Advantage voting machines are pre-voted for Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez. Republicans are having trouble changing the selection. Attorney General is investigating.
Story
Archive
Story2
Archive2 |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NJ |
Sequoia |
Camden and Essex Counties. Undefined problems with 30 of the 700 Sequoia Advantage e-voting machines in Camden County. 25 of 600 didn't work properly in Essex County.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
PA |
Sequoia |
York County. A ninety-one year old woman who voted straight Democratic was surprised to find that the Sequoia Edge review screen showed she had cast a vote for Republican Rick Santorum. She was able to correct the ballot before casting it. 15 to 20 voting machines malfunctioned in the county: wires came loose inside some machines; others had been programmed with the wrong date.
Story
Archive |
| 11/2/2006 |
Poor design |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. Poll workers struggle to learn how to use the Sequoia touch screen voting machines. Training sessions in Jefferson and Denver counties this week showed that although some judges are comfortable with computerized voting machines, others are baffled. Many of the judges are retired and trying to learn new technologies, often after years of working all-paper elections. "I've reached my saturation point," said Pat Gressett, 77, after more than an hour working with the new computers.
Story
Archive |
| 11/2/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
FL |
Sequoia |
Palm Beach County. Vote-switching from Democratic candidate to Republican, incorrect ballots on the Sequoia touch screens. "With four days of early voting left to go, and nearly 32,000 ballots cast, a handful of voters have complained they have had the wrong ballots show up on their touch screen. Or worse, their votes appear to go to the wrong candidates." Story Archive
|
| 11/2/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
IL |
Sequoia |
Chicago and Cook County. Vote-switching on the Sequoia touch screen. "Corrine Stoker pushed the button for one candidate, but her voting machine showed she voted for the opponent." Problems like Stoker's are "extremely rare," officials said, but can happen with electronic machines.
Story
Archive
Vote for Democratic gubernatorial candidate switches to Republican candidate.
"Alignment keeps going out. Voters complain," a poll worker complaint filed Friday said. "They recalibrate. A couple voters later, they complain. They recalibrate. They complain, etc. For two days straight."
Story
Archive |
| 11/2/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
IL |
Sequoia |
Chicago and Cook County. More Sequoia touch screen malfunctions. Trouble reports filed by voters and polling-place workers during early voting show glitches ranging from broken equipment to calibration issues with touch screens. "Screen goes black, beeps," reads one form. "Card will not lock into the unit," reads another.
Story
Archive |
| 10/27/2006 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
Sequoia |
Ventura County. Sequoia printed absentee ballots wrong for another region in the county (as well as in Denver CO). "In the Conejo Valley, at least three voters in the past week said their cards did not show races for the Ventura County Community College District Area 2, Conejo Valley Unified School District and the Conejo Recreation and Park District, Browning said. Instead, they were asked to vote for candidates seeking spots on the Casitas Municipal Water District board, which serves the Ojai Valley. "
Story
Archive
|
| 10/26/2006 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
Sequoia |
Ventura County. Ojai Valley absentee ballots (printed and sent by Sequoia Voting Systems) are missing the contest for Casitas Municipal Water District. Instead they have the contest for Ventura County Board of Supervisors' Fourth District race — in Simi Valley. The mix-up also eliminated the Ojai Unified School District race from the ballot.
Story
Archive |
| 10/12/2006 |
Ballot printing |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. Sequoia Voting Systems, printed 44,000 absentee ballots with the "yes" and "no" boxes transposed on the measure for Referendum F, a measure that would change the way recall elections are handled. "Election officials said they had proofed the ballot, and the proof did not contain the error. Somehow, the proof was changed, said commission spokesman Alton Dillard."
Story
Archive
Oct. 27 - The solution. Duplication 30,000 ballots before scanning them. Sequoia, to blame for the error, won't be supplying additional machines to count the transposed yes/no ballots. "These are kind of large, expensive machines, and they don't just have a whole bunch of them sitting around,"
Story
Archive
Oct 28. A new decision. Officials decide the potential for human error in duplicating so many ballots is too high. They will program some of the ballot scanners to read the misprinted ballots.
Story |
| 10/12/2006 |
Ballot printing |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver. Sequoia's second printing error was instructing voters to use 24 cents less postage than necessary to return the ballots.
Story
Archive |
| 8/9/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
CO |
Sequoia |
Denver County. Paper printout was wrong on the Sequoia Edge. Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff was the second person to try to vote on a new machine at Washington Park, but his vote for himself did not print properly.
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Story
Archive |
| 4/18/2006 |
Machine malfunction |
NJ |
Sequoia |
I was running for School Board in Pequannock Township.
Due to mistaken programming, the light next to my name turned off when someone voted for a person for the next office. When someone pushed my button again the light came on, but now the vote was removed!
This was true in all machines in the township.
I lost the election, but was it because of this light turning off and what people did next to turn it back on? I do not even know if my vote for myself counted!
The will of the voters can never be determined, no paper trail, no recount possible.
- Bob Friedman |
| 11/8/2005 |
Machine malfunction |
CA |
Sequoia |
Riverside County. Voters said the machine would not allow them to vote for only one candidate. They tried on three machines and finally used paper ballots. One of the machines was taken out of service.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2005 |
Machine malfunction |
NM |
Sequoia |
Dona Ana County. Ballot programming error caused the City Clerk Shirley Clark to decide not to use the voting machines in this election. (VotersUnite contacted the county and discovered that Sequoia Voting Systems did the programming for Edge voting machines.)
Story
Archive |
| 10/21/2005 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
Sequoia |
Humboldt County. About 900 voters received incorrect ballots. The elections manager said the error was made by Sequoia Voting Systems. Sequoia Voting Systems is printing correct ballots, which should be in the mail by Saturday, McWilliams said.
Story
Archive |
| 10/20/2005 |
Ballot printing |
CA |
Sequoia |
Santa Clara County. Printing problems have delayed delivery of absentee ballots by a week. When the ballots arrived from the printer (Sequoia Voting Systems), there were problems with the bar coding that ensures only one ballot goes into each envelope, and with the scoring that ensures folds don't interfere with votes.
Story
Archive
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