Re: Optical-scan equipment problems in California

["Joe Pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>]

FYI - After the TV show last night I mentioned to Donetta, since we 
know she's extremely concerned about certification, that Boulder County 
had used an uncertified Diebold system in November 2003 and asked her 
if anyone would be held accountable for that since they talked on the 
program about penalties being the key disincentive preventing improper 
actions by elections officials. She said she didn't know anything about 
it, despite the fact her office verified this had been the case and 
would theoretically be responsible for assuring these things don't 
happen (and for any penalties?), especially in a live election, 
presumably. What do I know, I'm not an elected representative after 
all.

You should also have seen (IEEE Voting Machine Study Group member) Pete 
Klammer's note earlier that Donetta claimed in writing to Senate 
President Andrews today that there are NO federally or state certified 
VVPAT systems, which is either glaring lack of knowledge in a key area 
she's responsible for, or worse, since:

a.    AccuPoll[1] produces a federally certified, accessible, 
VVPAT-equipped DRE system.[2] The company is actively pursuing state 
contracts and expects to have equipment in the field for the November, 
2004 election. The American Council of the Blind lists AccuPoll as an 
accessible voting system manufacturer.[3]

b.    Avante’s[4] Vote-Trakker[5] is a federally certified, accessible, 
VVPAT-equipped DRE. It is fully state-certified in Arkansas, 
California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, 
Ohio, Utah, and West Virginia, and certification is pending in several 
other states.[6] The American Council of the Blind lists the 
Vote-Trakker as an accessible voting system.[7]
The Avante VoteTrakker model 4.4.3 has NASED #03120000443-1990.

c.	  Sequoia Voting Systems,[8] the country’s third-largest election 
equipment manufacturer, will have a VVPAT-equipped AVC Edge[9] on the 
market by the summer of 2004. The unit will be deployed in every Nevada 
election jurisdiction in time for the 2004 presidential election.[10]


And so what do we expect lobbying the SoS' office is going to do for 
us, exactly? Who will represent us to assure trustworthy elections?

Joe


On Apr 29, 2004, at 5:23 PM, Paul Walmsley wrote:

> Diebold's optical-scan equipment miscounted thousands of paper ballots 
> in
> California last month.
> ...
> (Diebold GEMS is the same optical-scan software that Boulder County 
> used
> in the 2003 mail ballot election.)