May 15, 2008

Providing legal resources and election news to California election officials and the attorneys who represent them.

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November 30, 2006

"NIST-backed panel calls for end to paperless voting"

"The 2007 version of federal Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines should include provisions that prevent paperless electronic voting machines from getting certified, according to a subcommittee advising the Election Assistance Commission.

The Security and Transparency Subcommittee of the commission’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee made the recommendation in a report posted on the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Web site earlier this month. NIST supports the committee.

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines, better known as touch-screen machines, record votes electronically. However, many observers consider the machines to be prone to errors and potentially open to security breaches. With no paper record for officials to check the electronic totals against, officials are unable to audit the accuracy of the machines or to conduct recounts that don't depend on the original tallies, opponents of paperless voting say.

The subcommittee recommends that all systems certified under the 2007 guidelines be “software independent.” They define the term as meaning a system that provides a safeguard so that undetected errors in the electronic total can't affect the outcome of an election. In general, that means using electronic machines with a voter-verified paper record."

The story is here.

The draft NIST white paper can be found here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at 02:42 PM | Permalink. . .

"Ohio County May Junk E-Voting Machines"

"Officials in the state's most populous county are considering scrapping touch-screen voting machines for the 2008 presidential election, saying the machines contributed to long lines at voting booths and are costly to operate.

Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is situated, spent $14 million on the Nov. 7 election and cannot afford to spend that much on every vote, county commissioners Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora said. Much of the money was spent training poll workers how to operate new touch-screen machines.

With even greater turnout expected for the 2008 presidential election, commissioners are considering switching to optical-scan machines that read paper ballots. These machines, they say, are faster than the current touch screen machines because voters can fill out their ballots on paper before they are scanned and processed. They also say they are cheaper to train workers to operate.

Dimora said the elections board should have known when they bought the touch-screen machines that there weren't enough to handle a presidential election. The optical-scan machines are used in other counties, he said."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at 10:56 AM | Permalink. . .

'Incorrect tallying procedure led to faulty vote totals in county'

"Election officials in Fairfield County used incorrect procedures to tabulate voting results that were certified, prompting the board to hastily convene hours later to correct the totals.

The problem happened when voting machine maker Diebold Inc. failed to notify elections officials about a change in how votes should be totaled because an issue was removed from the statewide ballot, said Andrew Stemen, the board's election information specialist.

"What basically happened is that, because Issue One was removed from the ballot, we had to tell the software to do something different," Stemen said."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at 10:52 AM | Permalink. . .

November 29, 2006

"On day 1 of vote test, numbers don't add up"

"An audit of the county's touch-screen voting machines Tuesday found several discrepancies, most prominently in the disputed 13th Congressional District race, but state elections officials said it is unclear whether the problems were the result of human or machine error.

All four voting machines that officials used to simulate the Nov. 7 election had miscounts, and three of them had miscounts in the District 13 race.

Republican Vern Buchanan was certified the winner last week over Democrat Christine Jennings by 369 votes.

But there were more than 18,000 undervotes in the race, prompting a recount and now a state audit."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at 09:10 AM | Permalink. . .

November 28, 2006

"Feinstein to lead e-voting scrutiny'

"This month's election fueled growing anxiety about new electronic voting systems around the country, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California plans to take a hard look at e-voting and a host of other election issues and rules.

With about a third of the nation using new voting systems for the first time, fears of a massive breakdown Nov. 7 were not realized. But serious problems did emerge, and many analysts warn that a replay of the 2000 election debacle in Florida could occur unless security is improved and all voters have a chance to verify how their votes were cast.

With the new Democratic majority in the Senate, Feinstein in January will take over the little-known Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees ethics rules in the Senate and how federal elections are run. She plans wide-ranging hearings on election reform next year, said media aide Howard Gantman.

Even before the election, Feinstein was planning legislation to require a paper trail verified by voters for all electronic systems in the nation. A similar bill in the House has the support of 216 members, two short of a majority.

California and 26 other states now have a voter-verified paper trail.

A network of computer scientists and voting advocates have pushed for better security and transparency since Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 in response to the 2000 crisis. That legislation provided federal money to upgrade systems, but did not require a paper trail.

Many of those critics say new touch-screen systems are not dependable, and are focusing on what may be the most serious controversy of the election, a possible software failure in a congressional race in Florida."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at 11:58 AM | Permalink. . .

November 21, 2006

Court of Appeal Orders DA Election Annulled, Special Election To Be Held

From the Court's opinion in Faulder v. Board of Supervisors:

"Petitioner Keith A. Faulder (petitioner) filed a petition for writ of mandate (petition) seeking a stay of the general election for the office of Mendocino County District Attorney scheduled to take place on November 7, 2006, and directing the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and Mendocino County Assessor-Clerk-Recorder Marsha Wharff (collectively referred to as the County) to cancel the election and to hold a special election, pursuant to Elections Code section 8026.1 Petitioner claims that the special election provision in section 8026 was triggered when the incumbent district attorney, Norman L. Vroman, who was a candidate in a two-person race for reelection, died on September 21, 2006, less than 68 days before the scheduled election.

The County, joined by the surviving candidate, real party in interest (RPI)Meredith J. Lintott, contends that the special election provision of section 8026 applies only to primary elections, and not to general elections. They argue that the circumstances presented by this case are governed instead by section 15402. Section 15402 does not require a special election but rather compels that a deceased candidate’s name remain on the ballot and votes cast in his or her favor are to be counted in determining the results. If the deceased candidate receives a majority of the votes, the vacancy will be filled “in the same manner as if the candidate had died subsequent to taking office for that term.” (§ 15402.)

For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we conclude that section 8026 applies to all elections, including general elections, when a candidate in a two-person, nonpartisan, nonjudicial contest involving an incumbent dies within 68 days of the date set for the election.

Accordingly, the petition is granted, and we issue a peremptory writ of mandate to respondents ordering that the election for Mendocino County District Attorney be canceled, annulled, and invalidated, and that a special election is to be held in accordance with section 8026. We further order that the ballots in the district attorney election already under seal remain so permanently."

Posted by Randy Riddle at 01:55 PM | Permalink. . .

November 20, 2006

"Vote winner faces tough choice"

"The morning after unseating a longtime incumbent, Metzler — who also works for the district — learned state law precludes him from sitting on the board when he's also an employee.

Metzler said he checked with the district before the election and was told he could do both, so long as he didn't participate in employee wage and benefit negotiations. Election officials said Metzler identified himself as a farmer, not a district employee, when he filed to run. A state law passed in 1996 prohibits an employee of an agency to sit on the agency's board.

"If I would have known this, I would have backed off," Metzler said of his campaign. Metzler earns $1,800 a month with the district and also is a farmer. A board seat pays $125 per meeting, and the board meets twice each month. He has a daughter in college and a son who soon will be in college. His wife, Diane, is a teacher.

Metzler said he has not made a decision. "I am just going to wait and weigh my options," he said. "I have until December to make up my mind."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at 12:02 PM | Permalink. . .

November 13, 2006

"Bowen aims to boost voter faith in elections"

From the LA Times:

"Thirteen years ago, Debra Bowen swept into the Capitol and, with the naïve zeal typical of many freshman lawmakers, announced it was time for campaign finance reform.

Not surprisingly, the idea received a frosty reception from her new colleagues in the state Assembly, and the rookie Democrat from Marina del Rey soon was experiencing legislative defeat.

Unlike her proposal, Bowen's interest in fair elections did not perish. And now, as one of two newcomers to statewide office after Tuesday's election, she's poised to occupy a post that will put it to use.

After all the votes were counted, Bowen, 51, emerged the winner in a tight race for California secretary of state. She is the only woman elected this year to a constitutional office, and one of only six women in California history to capture a statewide post.

Bowen succeeds Bruce McPherson, a Republican who was appointed to the job by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 after Democrat Kevin Shelley resigned. McPherson lost his bid to stay in office after a contentious race marked largely by the candidates' differences over the trustworthiness of electronic voting machines.

An attorney who served three terms in the Assembly and two tours in the Senate, Bowen is no-nonsense, analytical and viewed as a savvy problem-solver with a strong work ethic.

Although little-known statewide, she earned serious stripes in Sacramento for her calm, decisive leadership of the Senate's energy committee during the state's energy crisis of 2001.

More recently, she has used her position as chairwoman of the Senate Elections Committee to champion election reform. Her view: Voters have lost confidence in the security and sanctity of elections, an erosion that began with the 2000 presidential recount in Florida and continues amid fears that electronic voting machines are not foolproof."

Posted by Randy Riddle at 09:28 AM | Permalink. . .

November 03, 2006

Volunteers to film polls looking for voting irregularities

"Volunteer videographers plan to be out in force on Election Day to record any irregularities.

The idea is to provide a same-day record of problems that can be broadcast on the Web, rather than go unnoticed or be consigned to reports read days or weeks after the votes have been certified, said Ian Inaba, one of the creators of Video the Vote.

"The ability to put this stuff on video makes it much more accessible and will force, then, the discussion around voting rights in our country," said Inaba, a filmmaker, voting-rights activist and a partner in the Berkeley-based Guerrilla News Network Web site.

Fueled by concerns over the 2000 recount in Florida and irregularities in Ohio's 2004 elections, Video the Vote was created by Inaba, fellow filmmaker John Ennis of Shoot First and James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org.

The group is working in partnership with a number of other organizations, including Common Cause, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and the People for the American Way Foundation.

About 600 people have signed up nationally, with more expected, Inaba said.

Organizers are attempting to head off potential problems by running training sessions and issuing clear guidelines on acceptable behavior. Guidelines emphasize not disrupting the voting process, staying nonpartisan, obeying local election laws and not filming voters without permission."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at 02:51 PM | Permalink. . .

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