Election Fraud?

November 15, 2004

One of the rumors floating around the internets is that widespread electronic voting fraud caused discrepancies between exit polls and actual vote tallies-- in other words exit polls more accurately predicted the actual outcome of the election in counties which used optical scan, punch card or lever voting machines than in counties which used direct recording electronic voting machines.

There is enough evidence to demonstrate that some elctronic voting machines generated inaccurate vote counts and that electronic voting machines without voter verified paper trails are difficult to audit. But there is currently not enough evidence to prove anything beyond some irregularities, much less widespread fraud.

Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project: Voting Machines and the Underestimate of the Bush Vote

Salon: Was the election stolen?

There's little question that the American election process is a mess, and needs to be cleaned up. But even if this particular election wasn't perfect, it was still most likely good enough for us to have faith in the results. Salon has examined some of the most popular Kerry-actually-won theories currently making the rounds online, and none of them hold up under rigorous scrutiny.

Brian Lehrer Show: Claims and Counter Claims

Because the source code to these direct recording e-voting machines is proprietary to the vendors, there is no way to independently verify that the election results are accurate without an independent paper trail or some alternative independent audit mechanism.

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 (HR 2239) introduced by Rush Holt (D-NJ) will require all voting systems to generate voter-verified permanent records. Maybe it will be passed by the next presidential election.

Representatives John Conyers, Jerold Nadler and Robert Wexler are seeking an investigation of the efficacy of voting systems from the GAO.