December 09, 2005

"Election group challenges certification of 3 vote machine vendors"

"A civil liberties group sued two state agencies Thursday, asking a judge to prevent three firms from selling voting equipment because it contends officials failed to properly review and assemble software code from their machines.

The California-based Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a complaint on behalf of a Winston-Salem voting reform activist Joyce McCloy in Wake County Superior Court. The lawsuit asks the court to intervene and block the approval of what it called "unqualified voting systems."

The State Board of Elections agreed Dec. 1 that Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems & Software and Sequoia Voting Systems met minimum technical and administrative standards to sell their machines to counties in North Carolina.

But the foundation argued the board didn't follow a law passed in August that requires state officials to review "all source code" related to voting machines that a firm wants to sell in North Carolina before it can be certified for counties to purchase. The board also failed to require that all software be placed in a safe place so state officials can examine it for problems, according to the complaint.

"The Board of Elections has simply ignored its mandatory obligations under North Carolina election law," said Matt Zimmerman, a foundation attorney. "By certifying without a full review of all relevant code, the Board of Elections has now opened the door for North Carolina counties to purchase untested and potentially insecure voting equipment."

State elections director Gary Bartlett declined to comment Thursday on the pending litigation and because the voting machine contracts still aren't complete. The state Attorney General's Office, which represents the elections board and another defendant, the Office of Information Technology Service, was reviewing the complaint, a spokeswoman said."

Posted by Randy Riddle at December 9, 2005 11:18 AM