New Jersey Department of State Disputes Vote Findings

The New Jersey Department of State last week issued the following statement on the reported findings of Princeton Professor Ed Felten concerning Sequoia voting machines used in the Feb. 5 presidential primary:

The Department of State offers its unequivocal support for Bergen and Gloucester counties on this matter. Election officials have our strongest backing, and we are working together to guarantee that the public has accurate information and the highest confidence in our voting process.

We want to stress there is no court order requiring any county to release voting machines to the plaintiffs in the Gusciora case.

On the issue cited by Professor Felten on his blog that states there were voting machines that recorded more votes than voters, we have worked with the two counties involved to verify that the number of votes cast are in fact equal to the number of voters who voted on those machines.

It was noted in the blog that one machine from Gloucester County recorded three votes for Ron Paul. However, county records only show two votes, which is consistent with the overall vote count.

In the case of the Bergen County machine, which was alleged to have registered 49 votes for Hillary Clinton, in fact there were 48 votes recorded. Unfortunately, it looks as though Professor Felten rushed to judgment and released a statement that is inaccurate. A misreading of the tape appears to be the source of Mr. Felten's error.

The Bergen County Superintendent of Elections and the Gloucester County Board of Elections, after a thorough review of this matter, have assured us there is no discrepancy whatsoever in the vote tallies. We have the highest degree of confidence in the professionalism of these county offices and their commitment to protecting the voting process.