February 06, 2006

"Mail-only ballots would avert June crisis"

From the San Jose Mercury News editorial:

"The June election is already turning out to be a nail-biter -- not for candidates -- but for county registrars of voters who will run it. They need quick help from the Legislature to let them escape a crisis they didn't create and lawsuits they wouldn't deserve.

This will be the first election in which counties must comply with both a federal law requiring a handicapped-accessible voting machine in every polling place and a state law requiring that all touch-screen voting machines produce a paper copy that lets voters verify how they voted.

Both laws are important. The federal law ensures voter independence. A paper receipt provides a safeguard against fraud or malfunction.

The trouble is, with four months to go, only one vendor's voting machine, used by only a handful of counties, has completed federal and state certification. The majority of the state's 58 county registrars are worried that they'll either be scrambling to acquire certified machines at the last minute or, worse, be stuck with uncertified machines they've already bought (a potential issue for Santa Clara County).

A sensible alternative would be for the Legislature to waive the state and federal laws by permitting voting only by mail in the June primary. Elections officials and supervisors of San Mateo and Alameda counties have proposed this escape valve.

A mail-in only ballot would give the Secretary of State's office time to thoroughly vet the electronic voting systems without feeling the political pressure of an impending deadline. It also would give the counties time to negotiate deals and train poll workers for the November election."

Posted by Randy Riddle at February 6, 2006 09:08 AM