Is this any way to run an election?

John Gideon of VotersUnite.org is reporting over at BradBlog that ES&S Notronic (heh...NO-tronic) voting machines have failed in 100% -- yes, folks, that's ALL -- of Horry County, South Carolina's precincts.

This is happening in a state where election officials were recently asked about their paperless ES&S iVotronic touch-screen (DRE) voting system and the fact that other states have found the machines to be insecure, poorly designed, inaccurate and not accessible for voters with disabilities. These officials have all said that they anticipate a smooth voting process for both the Republican presidential preference primary on Jan. 19 and the Democratic primary on Jan. 26 in South Carolina.

Prior to the reports of the mass failure of their voting machines, Horry County had released their plan on how they were going to conduct two primary elections on two straight Saturdays.

Late in the week poll workers picked up the iVotronic machines that they are using today. They took them home on voting machine "sleepovers" and then set-up the poll sites for today's primary.

Today only the Republicans are voting.

When the polls close this evening all memory cards, machines and supplies will be returned to the county election office.

The tallies will be done and results reported. The machines will then be prepared to be picked-up next Thursday by the same poll workers who will take them home and repeat the "sleepover" process for the Democratic primary next Saturday.

This plan seems to be a welcome mat for security problems, since the machines are highly susceptible to tampering, and even short periods outside the view of the public and election officials can be a recipe for disaster. Also in question is whether memory cards will be saved between the two primaries, as per federal law. This Train Wreck will probably throw a locomotive wheel into the counties plans.

SLEEPOVERS????

Poll workers are allowed to take these machines HOME with them?

There's too much to excerpt any more here, but if you want a taste of what's to come in November, go read the whole story. And if you still think this isn't important, take twenty bucks out of your anticipated "tax rebate" and order a copy of "Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections" to watch and pass along to your friends. Because if we can't have any faith in the electoral process, then what does democracy mean?