Recalibrated machine in W. Virginia appears to record vote inaccurately

Video the Vote has a video showing Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright demonstrating how votes cast on uncalibrated touchscreen machines can jump from one candidate to another. This is the kind of problem that voters reported having in several West Virginia counties last week on touchscreen machines made by Election Systems & Software. Voters in Tennessee also complained about the same problem on ES&S machines. In the video, after Waybright demonstrates the phenomenon on the uncalibrated machine, he calibrates the machine and votes again. But even though the machine is supposed to be fixed at that point, it appears to record a vote incorrectly. In the first part of the video demonstrating an uncalibrated ES&S iVotronic touchscreen machine, Waybright touches the screen to cast a vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, but a check mark appears three boxes below Obama's name in the slot for Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin. When he touches the box next to Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney's name, the machine sends him to a new screen where a box and keyboard are displayed for filling in a write-in candidate's name. When he selects the option for voting a straight-party Democratic ticket, the machine shows a check mark in the box next to Republican presidential candidate John McCain's name. He then inserts a cartridge in a port at the front of the machine to calibrate it. When the calibration is completed, he pulls up a new ballot on the screen and selects the option to vote a straight-party Democratic ballot. The machine correctly marks a vote for Barack Obama. He touches a box next to Independent Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader's name to change the vote from Obama to Nader. But when he presses the screen to change to a straight-party Republican ticket, instead of placing a check mark in the box next to John McCain's name, the machine still shows a check in the box next to Independent Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader's name. "Ah, it's out of calibration," Waybright says, unfazed. He then adds, as if the error proves a point he was making, "If that happens, again, the machine lets you know." Waybright tells Video the Vote that the county will dispatch technicians trained by ES&S to examine machines that cause problems for voters. But when three voters in Jackson County first complained about the issue to his office, Waybright said the problem was the voters, not the machines. After the voters complained to the secretary of state's office, Secretary of State Betty Ireland contacted Waybright and directed him to re-calibrate the machines. "People make mistakes more than the machines," Waybright told the Charleston Gazette, "but I went in yesterday and re-calibrated the machines. We are doing everything we can not to disenfranchise anybody." When voters in other counties complained about the problem as well, Ireland instructed all 34 West Virginia counties that use the machines to re-calibrate them each morning during early voting and on election day. All of the West Virginia voters complained that when they touched the screen to vote for Obama, the machine marked a vote for McCain. Shortly thereafter, however, three voters in Tennessee complained that when they touched their voting screen to cast a vote for McCain, the machine marked a vote for Obama. The voting machines used in Tennessee were also iVotronic touchscreen machines made by ES&S. The machines in West Virginia and Tennessee differ in one regard. West Virginia's iVotronic machines produce a paper print-out that scrolls behind a window, allowing voters to check that the machine has registered their selection as they make their choices. If voters make a change, the machine will print out their new selection as well. Tennessee's machines do not produce a paper trail. But all of the machines, in West Virginia and Tennessee, provide a review screen at the end of the electronic ballot so that voters can check their final choices before casting the ballot. Video the Vote is a grassroots organization that has been sending volunteers into the field to monitor elections since 2006.