http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091120/BLOGS09/911209972/-1//BLOGS09
JUDE SEYMOUR
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
The Gouverneur Times made "numerous false assertions
and allegations," a state Board of Elections official said, when their
writer suggested that a "virus" in the computerized voting systems
had "tainted" results from the 23rd Congressional District race.
John Conklin, the board's director of public information
said:
There was no virus in the voting machines on Election Day in
the 23rd District or anywhere else. The article is full of inaccurate
information and unfortunately quoted a single word from a commissioner who
mischaracterized the issue in question.
Mr. Conklin said the state board learned of a software
problem that caused some voting machines to freeze during pre-election testing,
but said the voting systems were corrected.
However, the human review of the software problem did not
adequately identify every machine that had the problem and, as a result, there
were some scanners which did freeze on Election Day. When these scanners froze,
the local boards implemented procedures according to state law and Board of
Elections regulations. These procedures do not allow for new changes on
Election Day, so inoperative scanners were taken out of operation and emergency
ballots were cast and counted in those areas according to existing procedures.
Mr. Conklin also dismissed the article's contention that the
voting machines could be hacked via their USB port. The port, he said, "is
sealed, is not accessible and has no capability for any exchange of
information. The scanners do not operate like personal computers. Any device,
such as a flash drive, placed in the port will not be recognized."
The spokesman said the machines were in the care, custody
and control of the local board of elections, under lock and key and covered in
tamper-evident seals.
Mr. Conklin also said the online publication's reference to
a slot that is accessible to voters and poll workers "is inaccurate."
Every machine in use on Election Day was retrofitted to
completely block access to that gap. Prior to completion of the retrofit last
year the gap was blocked by a tamper-evident numbered security seal.
Mr. Conklin concluded:
Despite the numerous misstatements of fact in the above
mentioned article, the results in the 23rd Congressional District, and all
other contests in counties which utilized optical scan voting machines, will
have been canvassed and audited pursuant to state Election Law, and will be
certified in due course. In the end, the new optical scan voting systems
guarantee we have ballots as marked by voters ensuring that every vote is
counted.
So, does anyone remain convinced by the Gouverneur Times'
claims?