Reply #7: Bev, I looked high & low for this info and I couldn't find it.

[stickdog]

Brit races boats.

Brit had a boat for sale recently.

Brit may have has his house remodeled recently. He seems to live pretty well.

That's all I got on Brit other than his "lateral move" from GTRI to KSU.

Check out this document (actually pretty decent overall):

http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachines-SaltmanReport.htm

4.5 Gwinnett County, Georgia: November, 1986

A recount undertaken in a State Senate race showed the loser in the first count winning the contest by 77 votes. The original tally had given challenger Steve Pate a winning margin of eight votes. However, the recount gave incumbent Donn Peevy 13,682 to Pate's 13,605. According to an article in the Atlanta Constitution, November 13, 1986, "the recount was the result of a computer hardware error ... affecting hundreds of uncounted votes ..." <62> The "computer hardware error" in question was believed to be a problem with the card readers that read the pre-scored punch card ballots.

<SNIP>

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) was asked by the office of the Secretary of State of Georgia to render any possible assistance. GTRI decided to review the situation and to determine the source the discrepancies between the two computer outputs. The investigatory team, headed by Dr. Britain Williams, hoped to separate the causes of the errors into at least two classes: those caused by handling of the ballots by voters and voting officials, and those caused by the hardware. According to Williams, "everything that could have been done to insure the accuracy of the recount was, in fact, done and the discrepancies observed are inherent in this type of system. A thorough analysis of these results will be conducted in an attempt to estimate the inherent error in using pre-scored ballots." <63>

A report has now been produced by Williams and an associate. <106> The report compares differences in the results in three counts: the general election, and the recounts on the two individual machines. The report states that:

"Errors were either tabs which were not yet dislocated from their pre-punched positions in the ballot, or stray tabs which filled other previously punched-out positions (+ and - errors)."

According to the report, errors were caused by such factors as handling procedures, the ballot puncher (which was of the "votomatic" type), the vote counter, the punched card's density, vote position on the ballot card, human error, and pure chance. The report concludes that:

"...there should be a system set up to make the voters and especially the volunteer workers aware of the effects procedural care has on the accuracy of tabulations (since this was where the main problem was discovered). Details like not putting large (or any) rubber-bands around the ballots would also be advisable (especially since custom ballot carriers are provided)."