About a month ago the Election Reform Network issued a report detailing disparities between the machine vote counts and voter attendance in the 2008 general election in Montgomery County.  The study found inconsistencies for an alarming three-quarters of the election districts in the county.  Discrepancies of up to 47 voters per election district were uncovered and almost 50 districts had differences of nine or more voters.  Eleven districts had disparities of 20 or more voters.  

This is a key moment for pushing the Election Board toward accountability.  They initially responded to our study with some concern, asked a few questions and said they would come back with a full response at a future meeting.  They're getting back to us at their meeting on the morning of Wednesday, July 7.  Please be there if you can to send a message that election integrity and sound election administration must be top priorities of county government - and not be treated as public extravagances.    RSVP to steve@electionreformnetwork.us.

No, this is not an issue just for geeks, voting wonks and bloggers in pajamas.  It's about all of us safeguarding democracy in the most tangible way.  The county's direct recording electronic vote machines are by definition unauditable, and independent recounts on them are impossible.  The fact that our study was the first general review of vote counts since the introduction of the Sequoia machines in 1996 speaks volumes about the administration of our elections.  The ERN did a pilot study of the 2006 election three years ago, which found disparities in 19 of the 25 districts compared, but the 2008 report was the first to get the attention of  both the Montgomery County Board of Elections and the press.  As a result of our study, the Board of Elections sent a notice to all local election workers for last month's primary "requesting that they pay particular attention to assuring that the number of voters matches the machine counts."   That was a start, but better to do a complete ballot reconciliation process - comparing the records of the number of voters with the number of ballots cast - prior to the certification of election results for that and every subsequent election.  Not to mention investigating and determining the cause of such disparities - and taking action.

Too much to ask?  Not according to the law.  Section CS 3154(b) of the Pennsylvania election code requires it and mandates that if in any election district the number of votes for any office exceeds the total number of voters, the county has to investigate.  And until the matter is resolved, the votes from that election district are to be excluded from the official count.  It seems curious that the law does not address scenarios where there are more voters than votes recorded, which in that case raises the issue of lost votes and appears to be the bigger problem in Montco.  We did, however, find some 30 precincts with more recorded votes than voter sign-ins, the largest disparity of this sort being five.

It's anyone's guess as to how the Election Board will react.  We hope for a fair and constructive response, but If history is any guide, they may attempt to trash the report and downplay somehow the significance of votes not matching up with voter records.  Interestingly, we received reports that at the last poll worker training session run by the county before the May 18 primary, there was a frank discussion of the problems we've raised, and they were primarily attributed by the county to the failure of machine operators to activate machines before new voters enter the booth.  This certainly fits the theory that votes are lost when polls are understaffed and machine operators handling as many as three machines - perhaps more - forget to reactivate them, causing votes to go unrecorded.  The fact that voters may be lured into thinking that they are voting when the machine is not reset (see Chapter III of the 2008 report on the Sequoia machines led by Princeton Professor Andrew Appel) is likely a big part of the problem.  Meanwhile, the ERN is researching the actual staffing patterns at the polls during the 08 general election through our recent Right-to-Know request.  

Mark your calendar to attend the Election Board meeting on the morning of July 7 at the Board Room on the 8th floor of One Montgomery Plaza (opposite the Courthouse) in Norristown.  Specifics on the time will follow.  Please let us know you'll be there.