Sequoia Faulted in D.C. Voting Miscount/Could Happen Again

[Wilms]

Firm, Elections Board Faulted in Voting Mishap

Panel Cites Poor Equipment, Communication

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 9, 2008; Page B04

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics and the company that provides the city with its voting equipment are both responsible for last month's primary election blunder that caused thousands of phantom votes to appear in initial results, according to a preliminary report from a special D.C. Council committee.

The report, released yesterday, says Sequoia Voting Systems, a California-based firm, "was too quick to exonerate itself and the equipment used in the tabulation process. . . . To date, the evidence appears to indicate that there was a problem both in equipment (the server) and in the software."

Also, the elections board failed to effectively communicate with the public about the mishap, the report says. The tabulation problems did not change the outcome of the election, and the board certified the results after counting by hand the votes in the problematic precinct. The board has not pinpointed what happened in the initial mix-up.

The report dismisses Sequoia's theories that human error or static discharge, not defective software or hardware, was at fault when a cartridge from Precinct 141 added thousands of votes. It commits the special committee to examine the effectiveness of the three-member elections board and its top staff.

But those issues cannot be resolved before the Nov. 4 election, which officials expect will draw a record number of voters. The committee's recommendations include actions to be taken Election Day.

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In an e-mailed response, Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle Shafer repeated her company's testimony from Friday, saying that the mistake was rooted in human error or an electrical discharge.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100803542.html