22 October 2008

Massive E-Mail Campaign Freezes Absentee Ballots

Washington Post - October 22, 2008

Efforts by elections officials in Fairfax County and several Virginia jurisdictions to distribute absentee ballots to military members and others living overseas ground to a halt Tuesday after a group concerned about the state's voting system crashed e-mail servers with a massive letter-writing campaign.

Rokey W. Suleman II, Fairfax County's general registrar, said his office was unable to send or receive e-mail for much of the day, which could result in a crucial delay in sending absentee ballots electronically.

The mishap, which also affected several other Virginia jurisdictions including Richmond, occurred after representatives of TrueVote.US sent hundreds of e-mails to elections officials expressing concern about whether Virginia was prepared for an expected record turnout on Election Day.

The e-mails were in response to a report last week that found Virginia is among the least prepared states to handle Election Day problems such as long lines, broken machines and software malfunctions.

Read More >>

No comments: