Film, panel highlight errors in electronic voting machine software

Errors in electronic voting machines changed the outcome of the 2004 presidential election, according to the documentary film “Stealing America: Vote By Vote,” shown at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Sunday.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion with political activists in the community who reiterated the film’s message and offered ways to fix the problems addressed in the film.

A large portion of the documentary focused on Ohio in the 2004 election, where more than 3 million votes went uncounted, according to the film. Problems with the touch screen voting machines, in some instances, registered George W. Bush as the selected presidential candidate when the voter had chosen John Kerry, according to the film.

Panelist Bill Berling is a former employee of MicroVote, a company that created programs used for touch screen voting machines. Berling told the audience about the corrupt programming and errors in the MicroVote software. In the 2004 election the exit poll numbers and predictions did not match up to the actual official ballot counts after Election Day, according to the film.

Monroe County uses electronic voting machines as well as paper ballots, but the paper ballots are only available at the Curry Building downtown. Panelist and member of Verify the Vote Cindy Hoffman said paper ballots are the only way to ensure accuracy in voting.

“Paper voting is important so we can have something to count if something goes wrong with the machines,” Hoffman said.

Berling agreed with Hoffman, stating the computer machines cannot easily be trusted because of the lack of regulation of the software provided by the machine companies. He said in the 2000 election in Monroe County two electronic machines came up with zero votes at the end of the day and in the 2006 primaries, the option of straight party voting didn’t work either.

“MicroVote was accused of breaking 198 election laws in Indiana,” Berling said.
Aviva Orenstein, IU law professor and panelist, said the biggest thing people in Monroe County can do to make sure their vote is counted is vote early.

Monroe County resident Steve Gamblin said he plans to vote soon, but is concerned with the lack of legal action taken in previous elections.

“Why haven’t lawsuits gone forward and these been made public is my problem,” he said.

The Monroe County Election Board is responsible for the decisions and processes and choices that the people of the county have during an election. The panel advised the audience to contact the board, specifically Secretary Jim Fielder, with their concerns about the upcoming election.

Berling said Fielder and the election board know little about the machine programs they are using in their county elections.

“The people who make up the board of elections have very, very, very little knowledge of the programs they buy and install in their counties. The information they do get is through brochures and pamphlets from the companies trying to sell it to them,” Berling said. “I think it’s a real problem that the election board is really ignorant, and it would be nice to have someone on the board who knows how these systems work.”

With less than two weeks away from Election Day, the film at the Buskirk-Chumley was another way for Monroe County residents to hear information about the voting process and ask questions.

“The people that came were obviously interested, and they go now and do their part,” said Dana Bredemeyer, coordinator for the film showing.