August 03, 2006

"Lawsuit Filed Against Voting Machines"

"A long-simmering debate about voting machines and their accessibility to disabled voters has now led to a lawsuit filed in federal court against various elections officials, including Secretary of State Bruce McPherson.

At issue are voting machines that were used in several counties this past June, machines that local elections officials still believe meet the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

One key element of HAVA is that each polling place have at least one voting machine that allows disabled voters to cast their ballot by themselves, just like other voters. Another HAVA requirement is that all voters, regardless of their physical condition, be able to independently verify that their vote is accurate.

But the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco today say that for many disabled voters, both provisions were violated in at least five California counties on June 6. They also claim the state is in violation of the equal protection provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

The case says that in San Francisco, Marin, and Sonoma Counties, voters with manual disabilities are unable to use a machine known as the AutoMARK (made by Election Systems & Software) without assistance-- a violation, they argue, of HAVA."

The article is here.

One of the lawsuit's claims is that the state mandated voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) used by some DREs is not accessible to blind voters and therefore violates federal law. The Justice Department has reached a contrary conclusion, advising that the VVPAT violates neither HAVA nor the ADA.

Posted by Randy Riddle at August 3, 2006 10:23 AM