Government Technology

California Secretary of State Investigating "Deck Zero" Voting Machine Error



March 3, 2009 By

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen -- who was at the forefront of national efforts to ensure voting machines met tough standards of security and accuracy -- will hold a public hearing to receive reports and take testimony on the "Deck Zero" anomaly in Premier Election Solutions' Global Election Management System (GEMS) version 1.18.19. According to a report from the Secretary of State's Office the Deck Zero software error -- which can delete the first group of optically scanned ballots under certain circumstances -- caused 197 ballots to be inadvertently deleted from Humboldt County's initial results in the November 4, 2008, General Election. The results were corrected when the error was discovered.

The Secretary of State said two other California counties -- San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara -- used the same software for the election, but encountered no such error.

Bowen's office conducted an independent investigation into the Premier GEMS 1.18.19 software errors and uncovered even more information that was previously unknown to county and state elections officials.  In the days after the hearing, Bowen will consider what action -- including possible withdrawal of state approval --- to take on the Premier GEMS voting system.


You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/security/California-Secretary-of-State-Investigating-Deck.html


| More

Comments

Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.


Collaboration for the Public Sector



Collaborative Justice: Transforming Criminal Justice Services Through Unified Collaboration
This issue brief examines video collaboration in every stage of the human justice process, demonstrating how this technology can not only make services more efficient, affordable, and accessible.

Cloud-Based Services Accelerate Public Sector Adoption of Video Collaboration
Today, thanks to new cloud technologies and high-quality networks, mobile video services - which provide not only cost savings but which help governmental interactions become more efficient - are more feasible than ever before.

Modernization as a Service: Acquiring IT through Innovative Procurement

Five Ways Collaboration is Driving Government Performance

Mobile Video Collaboration: The New Business Reality