July 21, 2006

"Secretary of state addresses problems with voting systems"

"California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson recently discussed ways for states to work collaboratively with each other and the federal government to enhance voting system security, accuracy and reliability as well as usability and accessibility, a secretary of state news release stated.

“As election officials, we have the honor to be trusted with administering and safeguarding the basic right of free people, the right to vote,” McPherson stated in the news release. “It is our responsibility to work on a state-to-state basis, and a federal-to-state basis, to improve the administration of that basic right.”

In a speech delivered at the national Association of Secretaries of State Summer Conference in Santa Fe, N.M., McPherson outlined three proposals to improve the voting system certification process nationwide.

First, to address voting system security and reliability, McPherson proposed states join with the Election Assistance Commission to develop a national program to conduct a comprehensive risk analysis of voting systems, in addition to the existing security tests, as part of the federal certification process.

Second, McPherson encouraged the EAC to move forward with the research and development program set out in the federal Help America Vote Act. For the program to come to fruition, Congress would need to provide full funding and the EAC would have to have the full support of the states.

HAVA requires that the states put in place voting systems that meet certain accessibility and usability requirements. Electronic voting systems are the expected solution to these HAVA-driven mandates, according to the news release.

Finally, McPherson suggested that the EAC establish an escrow account for vendors in the process of being certified. The proposal was a response to some criticisms that the federal certification process is “vendor-driven,” in that vendors choose and pay the independent testing authority that conducts the testing for their certification."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at July 21, 2006 08:35 AM