Ted Shultz of Madison was just checking. Though he's not himself visually impaired, he always uses the machine provided for those who are to make sure it's working properly.
"I want everyone's vote to count," says Shultz, a grad student in mechanical engineering at the UW-Madison.
In what may be a first nationally, Wisconsin is considering forgoing federal certification of a new vote-counting device and testing it itself in an effort to simplify and speed the tallying of votes in November, the state's top election official says.
The device, known as HAAT for Hybrid Accumulator Activator Transmitter, consolidates totals from the electronic touch-screen voting machines and the optical scanners that read paper ballots, spitting out a single tally - a step local election officials say could significantly speed voter returns on election night.
Madison - The vendor responsible for building a troubled voter registration system for the state agreed Wednesday to pay the state $4 million and give up the program's source code.
The vendor, Accenture, will also give up its claim to $1.95 million in payments the state Elections Board has withheld. The company will get to keep more than $7 million - about half of what it was to charge the state under its contract.
Madison - An audit warned Wednesday that the new statewide voter registration system won't be able to check records on drivers, death certificates and felons by the February presidential primary - and there is no guarantee it will work by the November presidential election.
The second critical audit in two years of how the state runs elections also found that:
“Wisconsin has always been a leader in the regulation and administration of elections,” said Mike Wittenwyler, attorney for Voter Action Wisconsin. “By decertifying this equipment, Wisconsin will set a national example on the importance of election integrity. These machines are inherently prone to fraud. Until touch screen machines are replaced, the state must take steps to ensure that security procedures are followed and voter integrity preserved.”
A watchdog group asked Wisconsin regulators Wednesday to revoke approval of four types of electronic voting machines before next month's election.
Voter Action Wisconsin said in its complaint to the state Elections Board that the machines are inherently unreliable, open to tampering and susceptible to human error.
The board didn't act on the complaint Wednesday, and several members said it would be unrealistic to instruct elections officials to switch to paper ballots or optical scan machines just 33 days before the election.
Every ballot bag from every ward in the city of Milwaukee will be reopened for a manual recount of the number of votes cast in Tuesday's primary election, city and county officials announced this morning.
The new count is restricted to the total number of votes cast in the election and won't recount the votes for any individual candidates. It begins at 1 p.m. today at the city's warehouse at 1028 N. Hawley Road and is open to the public.
Officials from the county and city election boards jointly described the recount as a step above the county's usual canvass of city election results, because ballot bags aren't usually opened.
Every ballot bag from every ward in the city of Milwaukee will be reopened for a manual recount of the number of votes cast in Tuesday's primary election, city and county officials announced this morning.
The new count is restricted to the total number of votes cast in the election and won't recount the votes for any individual candidates. It begins at 1 p.m. today at the city's warehouse at 1028 N. Hawley Road and is open to the public.
Officials from the county and city election boards jointly described the recount as a step above the county's usual canvass of city election results, because ballot bags aren't usually opened.
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