CEIMN in the News

State-mandated audit a success, officials and advocates say

electionline Weekly - electionline.org

I. In Focus This Week, By Sean Greene

Minnesota's first-ever post-election review - a manual count of votes from randomly-selected precincts in the state - drew raves from two sides that do not always see eye-to-eye, election officials and advocacy groups.

"I believe that Minnesota has done a most remarkable job at making every vote count and count correctly," said Janet Straub, a Minnesota resident and observer of the post-election review.

Letter to the Editor, Mark Halvorson, Director, Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and the Star Tribune's Nov. 26 editorial both weighed in on critical issues posed by paperless electronic voting machines.

Krugman focused on Sarasota County, Florida, where 18,000 votes went unrecorded in the 13th Congressional District race.

In 2004, complaints about voting machines changing or losing votes were reported by voters across the country.

Another View, Bill McGrath, Northfield News

If you voted recently in Rice County, and are wondering whether the ballot you cast actually got counted, the answer is "Yes, it almost certainly did."

However, in some other states there is no way of knowing what happened to your vote. That's because in those states, touch-screen voting machines were used. Many of those machines have no "paper trail." There is no way to do a recount.

Brad Swenson Bemidji Pioneer

A test of Beltrami Countys voting integrity on Thursday found a single glitch, one easily explained and which raised no red flags.

Not only am I happy with the outcome, but this was also an opportunity to test the system and build public trust, Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer Kay Mack said after the nearly two-hour post-election review.

By Natalie J. Ostgaard, City Editor, Crookston Daily Times

A handful of Polk County election officials got a taste of how ballot counting was done in the old days - more than two decades ago - when they conducted the newly mandated Post Election Equipment Review (PEER) Monday afternoon. The group spent 2 1/2 hours hand counting 476 ballots, but only for the offices of governor, U. S. senator and U. S. representative.

By JUNE KRONHOLZ, The Wall Street Journal, Page B1

When Americans go to vote tomorrow, a new breed of activist will be on guard, monitoring polling stations for everything from voting-machine glitches to long lines to registration snafus.

Energized by disputed results in 2000 and 2004, they have left jobs as music conductors, real-estate agents and software engineers to form groups that expect to turn out thousands of volunteers who don't trust the country's ability to count its votes and have decided to do something about it.

The state's system has safeguards, lacking in other states, to allay worries of fraud and malfunction.

John Reinan, Star Tribune

Minnesota officials aren't fretting about new voting technology

Linda Mickelson hopes to go home early on election night -- say, around midnight.

That's a better deal than it sounds. Mickelson, deputy auditor in Grant County, usually gets to bed about 4 a.m. on Election Night after counting more than 3,000 votes by hand.

By Helen Palmer and Mark Halvorson, St. Paul Pioneer Press

When Minnesotans are asked to raise their hands if they think our electronic voting machines accurately count their votes, almost all hands go up. However, when asked if they think votes in other states are counted accurately, only a few hands go up. Voters in our state have confidence in our voting machines.

Austin Daily Herald
Columnists: Sheila Donnelly

Published on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 by the Star Tribune / Minneapolis

We May Never Know What Happened in the Ohio Vote

by Mark Halvorson and Kirk Lund

The right to vote and to have each vote count is the cornerstone of democracy, but deep cracks are showing in this cornerstone.

Disturbing reports of voting irregularities in Ohio recently led nine of us from Minnesota to monitor the recount of its presidential election. The recount was not only to verify the outcome of the Ohio vote but also to ensure accountability in a flawed system.