August 07, 2007

More on county reaction to Bowen e-voting decision

"Santa Clara County's registrar of voters says the last-minute decision by the state secretary of state to curtail electronic voting next year could cost the county as much as $500,000, create lines up to three hours long on Election Day and slow voting results by as much as three days after the polls close.

The decision "put us into a delayed mode for informing the public," said Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Jesse Durazo.

Durazo's frustration was echoed by registrars around the state, in the wake of Secretary of State Debra Bowen's decree late Friday that - because of security concerns - most voting machines would be "decertified" for use starting with the Feb. 5 presidential primary.

That primary, of course, is shaping up to be part of the most closely contested presidential election in decades. With California's first February primary, the state's voters could have extra sway in the national race. But elections clerks around the state are warning of impending chaos.

About 5 million California voters who previously used electronic voting machines will have to cast their votes on paper ballots. The 21 counties using touch-screen machines made by Sequoia Voting Systems or Diebold Election Systems, including Santa Clara County, will be permitted to have only one such machine per polling place, to accommodate disabled voters.

Durazo said he already has told County Executive Pete Kutras he'll need two extra "optical scanning" machines, at $100,000 apiece, to process the extra 150,000 or so paper ballots he estimates will be necessary for the February primary.

But even with those machines, the county expects to be able to process no more than 8,000 ballots an hour on the Feb. 5 election night. That means it probably will take an extra 18 hours or so longer than normal to get an initial tally of all votes, Durazo said."

The article is here.

You can find additional stories here and here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at August 7, 2007 01:37 PM