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# RE: Time differences for Vote Centers for Master database & backup - DuPage County

- To: <support@gesn.com>
- Subject: RE: Time differences for Vote Centers for Master database & backup - DuPage County
- From: "Ken Clark" <ken@gesn.com>
- Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 13:28:27 -0600
- Cc: <jwdean@gesn.com>
- Importance: Normal
- In-reply-to: <001d01c0ae3b$3397e530$0903a8c0@Jeff>

Okay, this misbehavior has been escalated from merely confusing/annoying to serious. Because dump/load in different time zones changes the local time, it is possible for the date to also change if the local time is close to midnight. Since we print the date on the back of the ballot artwork, this can make a serious mess. In particular, emailing databases with the setup->election times set in the wee hours of the morning westwards to Spectrum will result in misprinted ballots. No, election times shouldn't be set to wee hours of the morning, but that's sorta beside the point.
The fix. GEMS 1.17.12 when released will load the same local time no matter in what time zone the dump/load takes place. Note that this means if you are quick enough emailing databases westwards, you can make the local time as reported in the audit logs go backwards. It is this problem the original design was trying to address. The only completely correct solution here is for us to store both the time and the time zone in the audit logs, upload, etc, but that will have to wait for 1.18, since we need a new field to store said time zone. In the mean time, just make yourself aware of the behavior. The audit log will still be in the correct order, it will just look like there was a rift in the space-time continuum is all.
Unfortunately for existing databases, GEMS has no way of knowing the time zone of the existing times already stored. So, audit logs, upload times, election time, etc, will look like they happened in England after you upgrade. All events forward will behave correctly though. This is hopefuly "merely annoying". If you are really concerned about this, you can set your local time zone to "Greenwich Mean Time" and dump your database under 1.17.11, then reset the time zone to local time and load under 1.17.12. If enough people loose sleep over this, I can add a "shift time" option to the database load dialog, but that that is not really easy to do, and I don't think this will be a really big problem in practice.
I know this is all confusing. I'll try to clarify if any of the above is unclear. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Ken

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-support@gesn.com [mailto:owner-support@gesn.com]On Behalf Of Jeff Hintz
> Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 11:05 AM
> To: support@gesn.com
> Subject: RE: Time differences for Vote Centers for Master database & backup - DuPage County
> I thought that I did that before, but I must of just changed the time and not the time zone. Yes, the time zone change made the difference. Thanks.

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-support@gesn.com [mailto:owner-support@gesn.com]On Behalf Of Ken Clark
> > Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 4:04 PM
> > To: support@gesn.com
> > Subject: RE: Time differences for Vote Centers for Master database & backup - DuPage County
> > Educated guess: Backup the database, change the time zone on your computer, and then load it. I would not be surprised if that changes the local time reported, but I have never tried.
> > Ken

> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: owner-support@gesn.com [mailto:owner-support@gesn.com]On Behalf Of Jeff Hintz
> > > Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 3:52 PM
> > > To: Support Team (E-mail)
> > > Subject: Time differences for Vote Centers for Master database & backup - DuPage County
> > > Tom Schuhler from GBS has reported this to me, and also forwarded on to me the master database & the backup database. I am not sure how it was done, but no matter how much I try, I cannot duplicate the problem. The master database was uploaded with all the results from the AccuVote units, and have recorded times after 20:00 hours. However, Tom says that they did a backup afterwards, loaded that backup onto their other Gems computer, and when they went to the recorded times for the Vote Centers, those times started at 14:00 hours. Does anyone have any ideas???
> > > Thanks,
> > > Jeff Hintz
> > > Global Election Systems

- References:
  - RE: Time differences for Vote Centers for Master database & backup - DuPage County
    - From: "Jeff Hintz" <jhglobal@earthlink.net>

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