The results from the Nov. 4 election that were certified by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Monday were incorrect, according to County Clerk-Recorder Carolyn Crnich in a phone call this morning. Over 200 absentee ballots were not included in the officially certified totals, most of them from one particular precinct in Eureka.
The error was apparently the result of a flaw in the Diebold-manufactured GEMS software used by the county to tabulate votes. Crnich said that she has verified this flaw with Diebold, and has reported the error to the California Secretary of State. Crnich said that she has proof that the ballots were, in fact, run through the machine. The software simply dropped the data.
Most of the uncounted ballots have now been recounted, Crnich said. The final outcome of relevant races remains unchanged.
However, around 20 ballots dropped from Diebold’s tabulation remain unidentified.
The error, which appears to be a longstanding flaw in the Diebold software, was discovered by the all-volunteer, open-source Humboldt Transparency Project. This election was the Transparency Project’s first full run-through.
Crnich and Transparency Project volunteers will have more to say about the discovery later this afternoon. Updates to follow.
This article appears in Black Friday.
There was a flaw in the Diebold software?
You’ve got to be kidding me!
Do you have the firmware type for that Central Tabulator? I lost a tight race determined by the Diebold Central Tabulator in 2005. I won at the polling places but lost the absentees. Below is a bit of info on the issue a consultant put together for me.
It is true that both the central count and the polling sites use the Diebold AccuVote-OS. However, the central count machine uses firmware 2.0.12 (the central count version) – this info is from Elections Manager Melvin Briones, who works in the ROV’s office, on Oct. 25, 2005. The polling place machines use firmware 1.96.4 – info from Melvin Briones on Oct. 24, 2005. It’s possible Madelyn considers these the “same machine,” just different versions – one a central count version and one a polling place version. Signed LR.
Thanks, former Fairfax Town Councilmember Frank Egger.