The Volokh Conspiracy - Now That's Lousy Software Design:

The Daily Progress (Charlottesville) reports:

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jim Webb of Falls Church is one of several candidates whose full names have been cut off the final page of the electronic ballot voters will use this year in Charlottesville, Falls Church and Alexandria.

Election officials said it's possible that some confusion may result when voters reach the summary page of the ballot but stressed that it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly and that Webb's full name appears on the ballot's first page, where voters choose for whom they vote.

A conference call among election officials in Richmond, Charlottesville and Northern Virginia worked out uniform language that will be posted on signs in every affected polling station, telling voters about the problem.

Webb's name on the summary page will be listed only as "James H. 'Jim'" and Republican U.S. Sen. George Allen's party affiliation also will not appear on the summary page in the three cities using Hart InterCivic electronic voting machines....

On top of that, the bug has been known for some time: "[T]he city has used the same machines in 11 elections since purchasing them in 2002," and various candidates' names have been truncated, including Webb's in the June primary. Not a glitch that will affect that many votes, I suspect, but still pretty embarrassing and needless.

	[Eugene Volokh, October 25, 2006 at 2:38pm] Trackbacks Now That's Lousy Software Design: The Daily Progress (Charlottesville) reports: Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jim Webb of Falls Church is one of several candidates whose full names have been cut off the final page of the electronic ballot voters will use this year in Charlottesville, Falls Church and Alexandria. Election officials said it's possible that some confusion may result when voters reach the summary page of the ballot but stressed that it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly and that Webb's full name appears on the ballot's first page, where voters choose for whom they vote. A conference call among election officials in Richmond, Charlottesville and Northern Virginia worked out uniform language that will be posted on signs in every affected polling station, telling voters about the problem. Webb's name on the summary page will be listed only as "James H. 'Jim'" and Republican U.S. Sen. George Allen's party affiliation also will not appear on the summary page in the three cities using Hart InterCivic electronic voting machines.... On top of that, the bug has been known for some time: "[T]he city has used the same machines in 11 elections since purchasing them in 2002," and various candidates' names have been truncated, including Webb's in the June primary. Not a glitch that will affect that many votes, I suspect, but still pretty embarrassing and needless.