Wisconsin's voting equipment -- Who makes it?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

I have been trying to find out what types of voting equipment, by manufacturer, are used in our state. Many other states make this public, but not ours, as far as I can tell. Wisconsin Elections Board has a PDF file online which breaks down the equipment as either "paper" or "mark-sense".

I called the elections board to ask if they knew how I might find a list of specific voting equipment used in Wisconsin. I was given a run-around, basically. I was told Mark-sense was a "generic term" that "includes several types" (including optical scanners), but he was very vague. Not only that, but at the end of our phone conversation, in which I asked just a couple simple questions, he said "And whom am I speaking to?" I said "curious citizen". Since when do we have to give our names when asking simple questions about our election equipment?

I know some of our equipment is manufactured by the infamous ES&S. This from a letter written by Kevin J. Kennedy, Executive Director of the Wisconsin State Elections Board:

Subj. Approval of Electronic Voting Equipment
November 2, 2001

The Elections Board has received several requests from vendors of electronic voting equipment to have their equipment approved for use in Wisconsin. No electronic voting system may be marketed in Wisconsin unless the State Elections Board approves it.
(S. 5.91 (intro), WI stats)....

The elections Board staff scheduled voting equipment demonstrations for 5 vendors during the week of October 29th 2001. ONly two vendors, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), and Governmental Business Systems (GBS) were able to demonstrate their equipment. the remaining vendors had not completed the qualification testing with a NASED approved independent testing authority. (!!-see Bev Harrises remarks about NASED)

Both vendors submitted a touch screen direct record electronic voting system for approval. ES&S also submitted firmware upgrades for its Model 100 polling place based counter and its Model 550 central counter. Both these models use optical scan ballots. The election board approved an earlier version of this equipment. ES&S also submitted an upgrade to its Unity election management software for approval.

The Elections Board staff and clerk panel believes the soft and firmware upgrades ended up approving the ES&S Model 100 and Model 550, and the Unity election management software...

I find it interesting but disturbing that ES&S was pushing their equipment so hard right after 9/11 and during the anthrax scare. Also that other companies were kept from demonstrating their equipment to our elections board by NASED.

[roseBudd]

1. Try this site

http://www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier/

I am trying to find out who sells punch card ballots.

[sybylla]

2. Try the SOS office rather than the SEB

The Secretary of State has more say, I believe, on what kind of machines get used. Doug Lafollette is also very aware of problems with DRE machines and his office would likely be much more willing to discuss what we have for approved machines in the state.

I can confirm my central Wisconsin county uses ES&S. I know someone in the clerks office and we have discussed how the machines are used. I have forwarded to her evidence of problems with ES&S scanning equipment. They are aware of the issues and, I trust, they are watching for any problems or anomalies.

[AllyCat]

3. Marksense makes the optical scanners

I'm not sure what version of tainted central tabulator is used. I know I saw a website at one point that said which type of system was used in each county. Thought it was at the SoS site for WI

[eowyn_of_rohan]

6. Thanks...

I will check the SOS site. I was told by Mr.Cagey-guy of the election board that our votes (Madison) were tabulated right there on the spot and not sent to a central tabulator... but that smaller municipalities had theirs sent to central tabulators because it was less expensive.

[dragonlady]

4. Milwaukee equipment

Milwaukee, the largest jurisdiction, uses ES&S Optech III-P Eagle.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

5. HAH! I figured so.

We use opti-scan in Madison,too and I imagine all the "major metropolitan areas" have ES&S (read: Corruptible) equipment ... Which they started bringing in through the back door starting in October,2001, while we were all preoccupied with 9/11 and the anthrax diversion. I am amazed at how much election equipment was being peddled all over the country, while everyone's attention was diverted ...

Now, WHY, I wonder, does our Election Board not make the manufacturer's name(s) public on their website, like other states do, but instead uses generic names like 'paper' and 'markSense'

[RevCheesehead]

7. and why doesn't our elections board post recent election results?

I went there looking for a summary total of votes, but was surprised there wasn't even a LINK to a "pre-certified" 2004 election.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

8. I find this really strange...

Why are we one of the only states not reporting the election results? I thought I had found a site that listed the results by county but now I cant find it...maybe I dreamt it (my dreams are lately intertwined with too much reality!)

Our state is supposedly known for the integrity of its elections (well with the exception of some shenanigans in Milwaukee),but with so much missing data, this seems rather fishy.

I do wonder if (believe that) some Republican skimming went on here. Even in the MAdison area, I just think Bush got more votes than he should have

[RevCheesehead]

9. This is the only link I've found so far (Mil. J-S; but really AP):

http://network.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2004/general/by_county/pres/WI.html?SITE=WIMILELN&SECTION=POLITICS

I thought I saw one election night that was a bit more comprehensive, but I can't find it anymore. Since this link goes through AP, I am admittedly suspicious that these numbers are accurate.