voting machines

The recount of the Minnesota Senate race could hinge on optical ballot scanners, machines with a history of errors that were put into place by former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer in 2006. Minnesota’s ballot scanning machines, manufactured by Election Systems & Software (ES&S), were the same machines that a Michigan election official discovered last week don’t always tabulate ballots correctly. The model that caused the problems in Michigan were the same used mainly in Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs.

Currently, Sen. Norm Coleman leads DFLer Al Franken by a scant margin, currently 590 votes out of more than 2.4 million cast. There’s been some speculation that potentially faulty optical scanners could have significantly miscounted votes in precincts favorable to Franken.