I received this email last night from Joyce McCloy. Joyce is the Coordinator for the NC Coalition for Verifiable Voting (Yahoo Group NCVerifiableVoting) and is heavily involved with watchdogging electronic voting throughout the state - IndyMedia, more, more.
Now maybe I was otherwise occupied right after the election just passed and missed it, but I don't think I read locally about the problems we had here in Guilford County with our voting machines.
I didn't know that, "ES&S early voting machines had capacity problems (WRAL-TV), which affected anywhere from 6,000 to 20,000 ballots (here in Guilford County)
Nor do I remember hearing locally that because of 16-bit limitations within the type of machines Guilford County purchased that ,"...the totals were so large, the tabulation computer threw some numbers away (archived Charlotte Observer). Retallying changed two outcomes and gave an additional 22000 votes to Kerry."
Also Joyce's email directed me to a disturbing November 8th letter (PDF file) that was sent to GC Board of Elections Director George Gilbert from our voting machine supplier, ES&S (website, editing portal), outlining the "challenges" Gilbert and his staff faced during the election including, "...the incorrect information contained in preliminary and unofficial returns for certain contests..."
Although everyone involved is saying that what we experienced were normal "glitches" and not to worry, I just don't know - but I want to. We need to keep an eye on these guys and question everything in my opinion.
Thanks, Joyce, for staying on this. Keep me posted and I will help spread the word because our local media has apparently fallen down on this very important job.
8:00:02 AM 
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