Reports on Election Administration
Press Highlights Significance of ERN Vote Disparity Study
Watchdog group spotlights lost votes in electronic machines
By Jenna Portnoy
May 15,2010
OF THE MORNING CALL
It won't matter how much time you spend comparing the records of U.S. Senate candidates Joe Sestak and Arlen Specter if your vote doesn't count Tuesday.
That's the message election watchdogs in Montgomery County hope to get across in a report released this week.
The Election Reform Network found that the number of Montgomery residents who showed up to vote in the 2008 presidential election rarely exactly matched the tally on the electronic voting machines. No one knows what happened to the missing voters.
Election officials generally blame the discrepancy on human error. But others worry the machines could be to blame.
''All you can do is print ballot images churned out by the same software that recorded the vote,'' said Steve Strahs of Melrose Park, who wrote the report. ''You have what amounts to a black box. You can't audit the system, you can't recount the votes.''
With Sparse Turnout, Problems Persisted at the Polls Last Election Day
This past election day (Nov. 3, 09) voters avoided the polls in droves, yet there were the usual procedural problems and occasional confusion in an otherwise lackluster voting day.
Only 25 percent of eligible voters turned out in Montgomery County, but that compared favorably with Philadelphia’s abysmal turnout of 12 percent and the statewide figure of 20 percent. While the 2005 municipal election also generated a countywide turnout in Montco of 25 percent, that election lacked the high court races that were supposed to drive voter participation this time around.
National Study Mirrors Flaws in Montco Election Administration
For far too many voters, as their hotline calls attest, voting is a frustration-filled, even confrontational process where well-meaning, eligible citizens are being denied the legal right to vote.
“Yes, my name is Clinton [J.], and my wife, Madelyn [J.], here in Royersford, Pennsylvania is not registered. Now, she voted in the last presidential election in 2004 and, for some reason, her name did not appear on this list here in Royersford. So I’m just wondering exactly what the deal is. We did check online before the end of voter registration and she was registered, but now she’s not registered.” Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
General Election 08 Report: An Overview of Operating Problems at the Polls in the 08 General Election in Montgomery County
March, 2009
Introduction
This report outlines the findings of the Election Reform Network with regard to the operation of the November 08 election in Montgomery County. The vantage point of this report is that of the individual eligible voter or potential voter who interacts with the “apparatus” of election administration with the goal of casting a ballot that is recorded and counted accurately
Network Report on 08 Primary: Problems Need Fixing for November 4
On May 1 the Election Reform Network headed to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners meeting in Norristown to report on what we saw at the polls on Primary Day, April 22. We did not paint a pretty picture. See the Morning Call story.
Election Day 06 Report
Every Vote Counts?
A Snapshot of Election Day 06 Problems at the Polls in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
March 1, 2007
Election Reform Network
921 Melrose Avenue
Melrose Park,PA 19027
215-782-8218
Election Reform Network Report Shows Loss of Votes and Lax Practices in Montco on Election Day 06
The Election Reform Network, a two-year-old citizens watchdog group which monitored the polls in Montgomery County last election day (Nov., 06), released a pilot study of election day operations documenting vote count discrepancies in 19 out of the 25 election districts analyzed.
