[NYTr] Calif: 39 Counties' Vote Systems in Question

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Rick Kissell 

Los Angeles Times - Aug 5, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-voting5aug05,1,7157250.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

39 counties' vote systems in question

L.A.'s InkaVote method may be recertified, but others face starting from 
scratch with a primary election looming.

By Hector Becerra and Jordan Rau
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

County election officials scrambled on Saturday to develop contingency 
plans for the February presidential primary election after California's 
secretary of state imposed broad restrictions on electronic voting 
machines that she said are susceptible to hacking.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified the voting machines used in 
39 counties, including Los Angeles County's InkaVote system.

She said some of the systems could be recertified in time for the 
primary if new security upgrades are made.

L.A. County's system, with which voters use ink devices to mark ballots 
that are tabulated with a scanner, could be recertified by February. The 
county did not submit the system for an audit by Bowen's office, and 
that appears to be why it was decertified.

But Bowen's rules so strictly curtail the use of some machines that some 
counties on Saturday mulled a return to paper ballots for the February 
vote.

The decision places California at the center of the national debate on 
electronic voting machines. And with Bowen's action, the state now has 
some of the nation's strictest regulations governing their use.

Bowen's decision won praise from some activists who for years have 
argued that computer voting is vulnerable to hackers who could change 
the results of elections.

Last week, Bowen's office released its audit of the electronic voting 
machines used in California that found some could be manipulated either 
by breaking into the hardware or by hacking into the software.

"When NASA discovers a [flaw] or a potential safety concern in the space 
shuttle, it doesn't continue launching the missions," Bowen said at a 
news conference Saturday. "It scrubs the missions until the problem is 
fixed."

But county registrars around the state blasted Bowen, accusing her of 
political grandstanding that has thrown the election process into 
turmoil when there is no evidence electronic voting is any more 
problematic than paper balloting.

In Riverside County, officials said Bowen's decision is setting them 
back years. The county was on the cutting edge seven years ago when it 
became the first in the country to use touch-screen voting in a major 
election. Since then, electronic machines have been used in 39 elections 
with hardly any problems, said Barbara Dunmore, the county's registrar.

But Bowen ruled that the county's machines can be used only for early 
voting and on election day by disabled people, because the machines are 
easy to reach. All other voters will need to use a different system.

The county could have to buy as many as 650 booths and the kind of 
optical scanners and other equipment used for paper balloting, at a cost 
of at least $5 million, Dunmore said.

"We were the pioneers," lamented county Supervisor Bob Buster. "After 
all our investment, we're jammed now, whatever we do. Making changes at 
this point is problematic."

Dunmore said the county's 32-foot "vote-mobile," which took voting 
machines to rural and poor residents, will probably be rendered useless 
except for voter registration drives.

Contra Costa County Registrar Stephen Weir predicted a chaotic few 
months, perhaps with some counties going to court in an attempt to keep 
electronic voting.

"Tens of millions of additional ballots: You don't just go to Kinkos," 
Weir said. "The timing is way too tight."

He also said he thought the changes could delay the counting of votes on 
primary night; California has a key early primary next spring.

"If people don't see results, they start going, 'Something's wrong,' " 
Weir said.

On Feb. 5, California voters will decide party candidates in the 
presidential primary election and will consider at least two state 
ballot measures.

In the June 3 statewide primary, they will select party candidates for 
legislative and congressional races. Winners of the party races, 
including presidential candidates, will compete in the Nov. 4, 2008, 
general election.

The hardest-hit counties were the 39 using machines manufactured by 
Diebold Election Systems or Sequoia Voting Systems. Bowen ruled that 
those machines could be used only in special circumstances.

Among the counties affected are Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and 
Ventura.

San Diego County Registrar Deborah Seiler said an all-paper requirement 
would be "pretty onerous," with 1.38 million registered voters in the 
county.

San Bernardino County Registrar Kari Verjil said she was going to huddle 
with the county counsel to discuss options. She said that if her county 
goes to paper balloting, it would have to buy voting booths and optical 
scanners and retrain poll workers.

Dunmore, Riverside County's registrar, said she is less worried about 
producing a paper ballot for the February primary than for the November 
general election.

"With all the nation going to election, I'm concerned about the capacity 
of certified printers for all the ballots for all of California," 
Dunmore said.

In Orange County, officials said they were relieved at the relatively 
modest regulations Bowen imposed on them. The equipment Orange County 
uses, made by Hart InterCivic, was decertified but immediately 
recertified on the condition that it meet certain conditions within 45 
days.

"I've read through all the documents and talked to Hart all morning. 
It's doable," said Registrar Neal Kelley. "I was concerned. It's funny, 
but yesterday felt like election day for me. I was on pins and needles."

In Los Angeles County, officials were still trying to sort out what the 
decertification of their system meant.

Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack said she was baffled by Bowen's 
decision.

"This decision must have been based on telepathy," McCormack said. "I 
can't make any predictions about what's going to happen. I'm assuming 
the Board of Supervisors will look at this right away. They're the 
decision-makers. But I can't predict. All I know is what she's done, 
based on no test, not even looking at the equipment."

L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Saturday that Bowen had 
reassured him that the county's system would probably be recertified 
after a review. "I don't see any reason to panic today," he said.

California has been grappling with the issue of electronic voting for 
several years.

During the March 2004 primary in California, touch-screen voting 
terminals by Diebold malfunctioned, and state election officials 
discovered that the machines contained uncertified software. The state 
barred four counties from using Diebold but later approved their use in 
11 counties after those jurisdictions agreed to new security 
requirements, including making paper ballots available as an alternative.

Bowen's audit has garnered national attention. In the wake of the 
findings, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) said she intended to 
hold a hearing in September to review the security of electronic voting 
machines. Congress has been discussing for several years setting 
stronger regulations for the machines.

Some on Saturday praised Bowen, saying she's displayed courage standing 
up to both voting-machine firms and county registrars.

"She was obviously, like many of us, concerned about the idea that 
people could rig an election," said former state Senate President Pro 
Tem John Burton. "She doesn't want California to be another Florida."

Bowen, a former Democratic state senator, last year defeated Bruce 
MacPherson, the incumbent secretary of state appointed by Gov. Arnold 
Schwarzenegger, in a race in which electronic voting became the main issue.

Bowen said Saturday that many county systems should not have been 
certified in the first place. But she added that she thought the needed 
changes could be done in time for the primary.

"Everything that we're talking about is perfectly feasible," she said.

But critics say Bowen is using bad data to build a case against 
electronic voting. As part of her audit, researchers infiltrated some 
machines. But they were provided with encrypted source codes by the 
companies that government employees would not have.

Thad Hall, a professor of political science at the University of Utah, 
said that if the paper ballot systems were subjected to the testing, 
they would fail just as easily.

He said the test commission by Bowen was not based on realistic situations.

"Where was the physical test for the paper-ballot box?" Hall asked. 
"Open the box, shove some ballots into the box and the election's 
stolen. Ballot boxes are not secured unless the workers are there too. I 
could light a cigarette and drop it into a ballot box."

Buster, the Riverside County supervisor, said he thought it sent a bad 
message to allow decertified machines to be used by the disabled and not 
other voters.

"If they're not good enough for the general population," Buster said, 
"why are they good enough for the disabled?"