Government close to scrapping 7,500 unused electronic voting machines

DonJose · 11-02-2009 12:12AM #1

7,500 electronic voting machines which cost €50 million to purchase and €650,000 to store between 2004 and 2007 may be scrapped. The reason the machines were never used was because of "concerns about the possibility of tampering with the machines and the lack of a paper trail". "the possibility of tampering with the machines and the lack of a paper trail" should have been the first question asked before spending €50,000,000 unbelievable :eek:

What the fukk were Fianna Fail thinking

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0210/breaking76.htm

dollybird09 · 11-02-2009 12:15AM

bet they wish they had that money now....grrrrrrrrrrrr

im sure those machines could be used for other purposes.... any novel suggestions?

li@mo · 11-02-2009 12:16AM

I think we should vote on this.
Anyone agree?

drunkmonkey · 11-02-2009 12:16AM

I think we should tie one to every Politicians leg and let them go down and find some treasure in the English channel...

Biggins · 11-02-2009 12:18AM

ABOUT FCUKING TIME!!!

consultech · 11-02-2009 12:23AM

ha - They sure as sh1t don't want to have to use them anytime soon, coz we all know how that would go...

Senna · 11-02-2009 12:29AM

One should be put in the middle of every city, town and village in Ireland as a constant reminder of how stupid FF was during the boom.

token56 · 11-02-2009 12:30AM

They haven't been scrapped already, wtf
Why waste money storing stuff that doesn't work?

sunshinegirl · 11-02-2009 12:31AM

ah sure no doubt they will be thrown into landfill, rather than be recycled.

Nehaxak · 11-02-2009 01:01AM

Talking about tampering with votes, I always found it very strange that pencils were only available at polling stations. I mean really, quick rub of an eraser and your vote for Sinn Fein has gone to Fianna Fail.
I would think it more easier to fix a penciled vote than an electronic vote.

It's why I always bring a pen with me to the polling stations, paranoid maybe...

drunkmonkey · 11-02-2009 01:08AM

Could we not sell them to Zimbabwe.....?

The_Minister · 11-02-2009 01:20AM

About time.

Electronic voting is a nice idea but it means that every unexpected result is put down as fraud.

@Nehaxak: People don't vote for Sinn Fein because they are a bunch of terrorists, not because their votes are being stolen.

The Mad Hatter · 11-02-2009 01:21AM

The machines were obsolete at the time of build and poorly made. It's a wrench that FF are dumping them after spending so much money on them, but it's better than either a) keeping them longer, or b) putting them into use.

Zaph · 11-02-2009 01:22AM

Nehaxak wrote: »

Talking about tampering with votes, I always found it very strange that pencils were only available at polling stations. I mean really, quick rub of an eraser and your vote for Sinn Fein has gone to Fianna Fail.
I would think it more easier to fix a penciled vote than an electronic vote.

It's why I always bring a pen with me to the polling stations, paranoid maybe...

My issue with them was less about vote rigging and more about personal choice. I used them one when they tested them in 3 or 4 constituencies for a referendum or local elections, can't remember what exactly. While I didn't actually want to do so, there was no option for me to deliberately spoil my vote if that had been my voting intention. I think it's important that people should retain the right to a "non-vote" if they wish to express their dissatisfaction with all the candidates offered or the chouices in a referendum.

RATM · 11-02-2009 01:24AM

They should at least save a few for the museum so future generations can see what a shambolic government we had in power at the time.

The_Minister · 11-02-2009 01:25AM

I always take a spoiled vote as a sign that someone isn't that bright.

jester77 · 11-02-2009 01:25AM

So what does one do with 7500 unused electronic voting machines?

Wonder if they can play crisis

CiaranC · 11-02-2009 01:26AM

Bit OT, but does anyone actually know what hardware is in these machines?

c-note · 11-02-2009 01:29AM

yeah- i wonder what they'd go for
i'll start the bidding at €10 for 2

Zaph · 11-02-2009 01:31AM

The_Minister wrote: »

I always take a spoiled vote as a sign that someone isn't that bright.

In some cases that's true, but not always. I feel it's important to exercise my democratic right to vote. However, in the presidential election in 1997 there wasn't a single one of the 5 candidates that I could honestly say I wanted as president. Rather than voting for one just for the hell of it, I wrote "none of the above" on my ballot paper. It's the only time I've ever spoiled a vote, either deliberately or by mistake. Just because I don't want to vote for any of the candidates doesn't mean I should be denied my right to express my opinion.

towel401 · 11-02-2009 01:36AM

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Could we not sell them to Zimbabwe.....?

don't need voting machines for one-option polls

Nehaxak · 11-02-2009 01:38AM

The_Minister wrote: »

@Nehaxak: People don't vote for Sinn Fein because they are a bunch of terrorists, not because their votes are being stolen.

lol, guess we better stop them before they invade our imagination then :rolleyes:

kowloon · 11-02-2009 01:55AM

The_Minister wrote: »

I always take a spoiled vote as a sign that someone isn't that bright.

Not all of us were clever enough to know that Dustin was not, in fact, a real candidate.

Biggins · 11-02-2009 02:01AM

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Could we not sell them to Zimbabwe.....?

They don't have the money to buy them and also, there's not enough educated enough folk to be able to read the names in places sadly.

Mugabe has a LOT to answer for.
The day he passes away I will gladly double the money for that day, I give regular to a rape crises centre in celebration.

Senna · 11-02-2009 02:20AM

Was there not a company that said they could, with very little modifications, put them in national schools as an interactive learning aid.
If it was possible to do ANYTHING with them, those options show be explored.

Biggins · 11-02-2009 02:31AM

Senna wrote: »

Was there not a company that said they could, with very little modifications, put them in national schools as an interactive learning aid.
If it was possible to do ANYTHING with them, those options show be explored.

I'm all for recycling them also but there is limited options.
The software (which is always VERY expensive) alone is specific designed and tweaked for our electoral system. This can be changed again but only with the absolute copyright rights attached and bought.
A buyer would know this alone and take it into account when buying them.
Also the internals, motherboard, RAM, etc are now second-hand. All parts would have to be re-tested before possibly being sold on again. Testing them all too would be expensive.

School software for such machines would then have to be altered/designed to operate according to the physical buttons and layout of the machines. Again - more expensive costs involved.

Run_to_da_hills · 11-02-2009 02:36AM

CiaranC wrote: »

Bit OT, but does anyone actually know what hardware is in these machines?

My guess would be something like a slot 1 Celeron plus about 8 megs of ram. :P

RATM · 11-02-2009 03:01AM

They should recycle the voting machines into these and let them run the country.

BaconZombie · 11-02-2009 03:06AM

The hardware is ALOT older then that.... it basically a Sinclair ZX.....

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

My guess would be something like a slot 1 Celeron plus about 8 megs of ram. :P

Nehaxak · 11-02-2009 03:28AM

Full specs of the systems are available here...

http://www.vgmuseum.com/systems/jaguar/

Professey Chin · 11-02-2009 03:34AM

jester77 wrote: »

So what does one do with 7500 unused electronic voting machines?

Wonder if they can play crisis

Only Economic Crysis

Government close to scrapping 7,500 unused electronic voting machines

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