Advance voting ends Monday
County clerk says machines are safe from hackers
By Bobbi Mlynar
Friday, November 3, 2006
Registered voters are voting early this year in an election expected to draw an unusually large number of voters before the polls close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Advance voting ends at noon on Monday.
“It’s going great guns,” County Clerk Karen Hartenbower said this morning about the advance voting option. “It’s over 100 a day. The only time we have ever had more than this was in the 2004 presidential election, so this is unusual for this off-year election.”
Hartenbower speculated that special questions on the ballot -- hiring a county manager and adding two members to the county commission -- and having a local gubernatorial candidate had combined to create greater interest.
“They don’t say, but that’s what I think,” she said. “I think it’s because of the special questions for the county ... and our hometown candidate Jim Barnett. They don’t say; they just wanta to make sure they vote.”
Hartenbower predicted a voter turnout of about 50 percent, which she termed “very high for any year that is not a presidential election.”
Slightly over 20,000 people are registered to vote in Lyon County.
Hartenbower said that the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) had helped the state clean up its rolls of registered voters.
“Now we’re connected with every county in the State of Kansas,” she said. “If a college student, say from here, goes to Olathe in Johnson County and registers to vote, the software says, ‘Hey, that person already is registered in Lyon County.’ So we have cleaned up several hundred of those this year.”
Hartenbower also said that the Diebold voting machines are “operating great,” despite reports that they are vulnerable to hackers. Federal government representatives presented a program on the topic at a conference Hartenbower attended last summer, where she learned more about the potential, or lack of potential, for hacking.
Most of the problems with voting machines come from human error, rather than hackers, she said.
“Mainly it’s people error if there’s a problem with the machines,” Hartenbower said, adding that paper ballots always are available for people who do not want to use voting machines.
In Lyon County, election workers are required to attend classes so they know how to operate the machines and assist voters. Problems arise when workers do not know how to change print-out papers or clear jams when the Verified Voter Audit Paper Trail is printed. Hartenbower said Lyon County tries to provide thorough training to avoid those problems, and she does not anticipate any hacking into the computer results.
“Never in the history of the United States on any equipment has anyone ever hacked in and changed votes,” she said. “That’s the bottom line. It has never happened.”
Charles_Finkle (anonymous) says...
I aint using a electronic machine to vote. I read there are people on the innernets that can change your votes and make it look like you voted for some dumb demacrat when you wanted to vote for republicans the hole time. I think that is wrong and it shuld be against the law!
November 3, 2006 at 3:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )