brennan center for justice

November2006November2006ES&SiVotronicES&SiVotronicArkansasArkansasCleburne County, ARAccording to the Heber Springs, Arkansas Sun Times,some voters who took part in early voting reportedthat the mayoral candidate they selected was switchedwhen they saw their vote on the review screen. Thecounty clerk confirmed the problem. The voteswitchingwas blamed on a calibration error and wasnot caught until 252 votes had been cast on thequestionable voting equipment. 303Washington County, ARThe voter-verifiable paper record printed theincorrect voting district numbers for each staterepresentative candidate. As reported by theNorthwest Arkansas Times, a candidate in the racecaught the error as he tried to cast his own ballot.ES&S re-programmed the machines and the countyelection coordinator insisted that the error “neveraffected the tallying of votes,” just the district listedon the audit trail. 304May 2006 ES&S iVotronic Arkansas Pulaski County, ARThe Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that afterseveral voters complained of problems with themachine used in early voting, officials determinedthat an optical illusion experienced by voters over sixfeet tall caused many to select the candidate above theone for whom they intended to vote. 305According to local television station THV, electionofficials who contacted the manufacturer to ensurethat there wasn’t a problem with the machine weretold that the company was aware of an issue withoptical illusions causing voters to select theunintended candidate. 306November2004May 2004ES&SM115ES&SM150ArkansasArkansasFor more on this incident, see case study 4 on page14 of this report.Carroll County, ARAccording to the Carroll County Star Tribune, anincorrectly programmed chip from an optical scansystem skewed results from the race for Justice of thePeace in District 2. Election officials fortunatelydiscovered the glitch when they met to certify theelections. As a result, the ballots were recounted. 307Craighead County, ARBrennan Center for Justice | 49