

From the diagram of the paper path, above, it’s pretty clear that the same bidirectional paper path contains both the scanner and the printer. But the ImageCast Evolution can print right onto your ballot, after you insert it into the slot. We can detect this fraud by recounting a random sample of the paper ballots.

If the optical-scanners have been hacked, they lie about what’s on the paper ballots. But those using the BMD feature will insert a blank ballot into the scanning slot after they indicate their choices using the touchscreen or audio/button interface, the ImageCast Evolution will fill in the bubbles on their ballot for them.Ĭombining the BMD+scanner is a really bad idea! Remember, the purpose of the paper ballot is to guard against cheating by hacked voting computers. Most voters fill out their ballots by hand, and insert into the scanning slot. In contrast, the ImageCast Evolution is an “all-in-one” device: combination BMD and optical scanner. In a typical polling place, there are cardboard privacy screens for those voters who use a pen to fill in the the bubbles on their op-scan ballots one BMD for voters who want machine assistance marking their ballots and one optical scanner into which all voters deposit their ballots.

These BMDs print out a paper ballot that can be scanned by the optical scanners and can be recounted by hand. Ballot-marking devices (BMDs) are provided for those voters (and for any other voters that wish to use them) the BMDs are equipped with touchscreens, and also with audio and tactile interfaces (headphones and distinctively shaped buttons) for blind voters, and even sip-and-puff input devices for motor-impaired voters. Some voters are unable to mark their ballots by hand–they may have a visual impairment (they can’t see the ballot) or a motor disability (they can’t physically handle the paper).
#Imagecast voting machine face up full#
(This can be a full recount, or a risk-limiting audit, an inspection of a randomly selected sample of the ballots.) We count the votes with optical scanners (which are very accurate when they haven’t been hacked), and to detect and correct possible fraud-by-hacking, we recount the paper ballots by hand. Therefore (in almost all the states) we vote on paper ballots.
#Imagecast voting machine face up software#
When we use computers to count votes, it’s impossible to absolutely prevent a hacker from replacing the computer’s software with a vote-stealing program that deliberately miscounts the vote. Unfortunately, that means ES&S can still sell machines (such as their ExpressVote all-in-one) incorporating this design mistake. Fortunately, this design flaw has been patented by a rival company, ES&S, which sued to prevent Dominion from selling this bad design. The Dominion ImageCast Evolution looks like a pretty good voting machine, but it has a serious design flaw: after you mark your ballot, after you review your ballot, the voting machine can print more votes on it!. "With the commission's approval, we will have four elections before the 2024 Presidential Primary to work with the new tabulators.This article was originally posted at Freedom to Tinker on October 16, 2018. "While the AccuVote machines are highly accurate, we are concerned about the long-term availability of parts and programming," they wrote. In a joint letter, Milford Town Moderator Pete Basiliere and Town Clerk Joan Dargie backed the town's request. In its final report, the three-person forensic audit team said AccuVote machines remain acceptable to use but stressed the importance of ensuring the machines are properly maintained. The request is the only item on the agenda for the BLC meeting Friday morning in Concord.īoth the AccuVote and ImageCast machines are optical scanners that automatically read the impressions that voters make on paper ballots.ĪccuVote machines are used in most communities, including Windham, where a major vote discrepancy between the machine count and the hand recount occurred in the November 2020 election.Ī forensic audit determined the main cause of the discrepancy wasn't the AccuVote machines, but rather a separate folding machine that put a crease in many absentee ballots that were read incorrectly. "Milford's elections are safe, secure and trustworthy."
