Volusia error
Encyclopedia
The Volusia error is an example of the problems with electronic voting from the 2000 US Presidential election.
Late in the night on November 7, 2000 the US
election had come down to a tight race over Florida
and its 25 electoral votes
. Both Al Gore
and George W. Bush
were within 25 electoral votes of the necessary count to win the presidency, so the entire race boiled down to the contest in Florida.
In Volusia County, Florida
a strange error was discovered upon reviewing the electronic voting results. As Dana Milbank
of the Washington Post put it:
The error cropped up in Volusia's 216th precinct of only 585 registered voters. A Global Election Systems (acquired by Diebold Election Systems now Premier Election Solutions) voting machine showed that 412 of those registered voters had voted. The problem was that the machine also claimed those 412 voters had somehow given Bush 2,813 votes and in addition had given Gore a negative vote count of -16,022 votes (Green Party
candidate Ralph Nader
was shown to have an even larger negative vote, though he was not considered a likely winner of the whole Florida election).
Most major television news networks had originally called Florida for Gore (before the polls closed in Florida), but retracted the call around 10 p.m. EST
. Fox News was the first to lead the charge the other way, acting on data that included this impossible Volusia County 216th precinct data, completely altering the close race with a sudden 18,000+ vote margin opening up for Bush over Gore. Fox News called Florida for Bush at 2:16 a.m. on November 8, with other networks following in the next few minutes. These calls were then retracted and Florida declared too close to call once the Volusia error was reported to the networks.
The error was caught and corrected the night of the election. Of the registered voters in the precinct, 22 voted for Bush, 193 for Gore, and 1 for Nader. However, the error did cause embarrassment and scrutiny both for Volusia election workers and for GES, provider of the electronic ballots. According to Jake Tapper
, on January 17, 2001 Volusia elections employee Lana Hires (not the Supervisor of Elections, as incorrectly reported by Tapper) wrote a memo to GES officials, stating,
The facts and story of Al Gore's minus 16,022 vote anomaly in Volusia County are the subject of the controversial 2006 HBO documentary Hacking Democracy
which climaxes in the on camera hacking of the same Diebold system used in Volusia in 2000. That hack, now known as the 'Hursti Hack
,' allegedly used negative votes to rig the votes on the Diebold voting system.
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Late in the night on November 7, 2000 the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
election had come down to a tight race over Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and its 25 electoral votes
Electoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
. Both Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
and George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
were within 25 electoral votes of the necessary count to win the presidency, so the entire race boiled down to the contest in Florida.
In Volusia County, Florida
Volusia County, Florida
Volusia County is a county located in the state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 official county's population was 494,593 . Its county seat is DeLand, and its most populous city is currently Deltona....
a strange error was discovered upon reviewing the electronic voting results. As Dana Milbank
Dana Milbank
-Biography:He is a graduate of Yale University, where he was a member of Trumbull College, the Progressive Party of the Yale Political Union and the secret society Skull and Bones. He is a graduate of Sanford H. Calhoun High School in Merrick, New York...
of the Washington Post put it:
- "Something very strange happened on election night to Deborah Tannenbaum, a Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
official in Volusia County. At 10 p.m., she called the county elections department and learned that Al Gore was leading George W. Bush 83,000 votes to 62,000. But when she checked the county's Web site for an update half an hour later, she found a startling development: Gore's count had dropped by 16,000 votes, while an obscure Socialist candidate had picked up 10,000--all because of a single precinct with only 600 voters."
The error cropped up in Volusia's 216th precinct of only 585 registered voters. A Global Election Systems (acquired by Diebold Election Systems now Premier Election Solutions) voting machine showed that 412 of those registered voters had voted. The problem was that the machine also claimed those 412 voters had somehow given Bush 2,813 votes and in addition had given Gore a negative vote count of -16,022 votes (Green Party
Green Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
candidate Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
was shown to have an even larger negative vote, though he was not considered a likely winner of the whole Florida election).
Most major television news networks had originally called Florida for Gore (before the polls closed in Florida), but retracted the call around 10 p.m. EST
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. Fox News was the first to lead the charge the other way, acting on data that included this impossible Volusia County 216th precinct data, completely altering the close race with a sudden 18,000+ vote margin opening up for Bush over Gore. Fox News called Florida for Bush at 2:16 a.m. on November 8, with other networks following in the next few minutes. These calls were then retracted and Florida declared too close to call once the Volusia error was reported to the networks.
The error was caught and corrected the night of the election. Of the registered voters in the precinct, 22 voted for Bush, 193 for Gore, and 1 for Nader. However, the error did cause embarrassment and scrutiny both for Volusia election workers and for GES, provider of the electronic ballots. According to Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper
Jacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
, on January 17, 2001 Volusia elections employee Lana Hires (not the Supervisor of Elections, as incorrectly reported by Tapper) wrote a memo to GES officials, stating,
"I need some answers! Our department is being audited by the County ... I have been waiting for someone to give me an explanation as to why Precinct 216 gave Al Gore a minus 16022 when it was uploaded. Will someone please explain this so that I have the information to give the auditor instead of standing here 'looking dumb.'"
The facts and story of Al Gore's minus 16,022 vote anomaly in Volusia County are the subject of the controversial 2006 HBO documentary Hacking Democracy
Hacking Democracy
Hacking Democracy is a 2006 documentary film by producer Robert Carrillo Cohen and producer / directors Russell Michaels and Simon Ardizzone, shown on HBO...
which climaxes in the on camera hacking of the same Diebold system used in Volusia in 2000. That hack, now known as the 'Hursti Hack
Hursti Hack
The Hursti Hack was a successful attempt to alter the votes recorded on a Diebold optical scan voting machine. The hack is named after Harri Hursti.- Participants :The participants were:*Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections, Leon County, Florida....
,' allegedly used negative votes to rig the votes on the Diebold voting system.
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