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 California delays certification of some electronic voting machines
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- New touchscreen voting machines failed to win the approval of a state advisory panel, throwing into question multimillion dollar contracts between the company that built them and at least three counties with plans to use them as early as next year. Instead of certifying the Diebold AccuVote-TSX system as expected, the advisory panel to the secretary of state said Monday it would investigate uncertified software and hardware that may have been used in a recent election. Assistant secretary of state Marc Carrel said the panel had discovered disconcerting information about the equipment, according to several people who attended a Monday meeting in Sacramento. The state would not consider certification of the TSX until it completed the investigation, Carrel said to attendees, including voter rights advocates, computer scientists and representatives from Diebold and other voting equipment vendors. At least three counties -- Kern, Solano and San Joaquin -- had planned to use the paperless voting terminals in the March 2004 primary. Many attendees had expected Carrel to approve the TSX for use in the upcoming primary. During the meeting, Carrel refused to say where or how the uncertified equipment may have been used, or whether its use could invalidate any election results. All voting equipment in California must pass federal and state certification standards; once the state approves, each county is free to select from a list of certified vendors, machines and software. Secretary of state spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh refused to give details of the investigation or the alleged uncertified equipment, but emphasized that the postponement was not an indictment of electronic voting systems. "There was no conclusion rendered at the meeting," Carbaugh said. "The panelists simply requested more information of the vendor." Calls placed to Diebold Monday were not immediately returned. Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, called the investigation a "major victory" for voting rights advocates. She and dozens of Silicon Valley computer scientists have been arguing for more than a year that Diebold's voting equipment is prone to hackers or computer malfunction, and it should provide voters with a printed receipt for verification. "Without a voter-verifiable paper trail, the public is wholly dependent on the certification procedures to safeguard the election process," said Alexander, who attended the Monday meeting. "If the vendor were to use anything unauthorized, the integrity of the entire voting system could be compromised." Counties nationwide are rushing to upgrade their voting systems to qualify for federal funding and comply with the 2002 Help America Vote Act. North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold and other election equipment vendors argue that printers would add cost and complexity to cash-strapped counties and overburdened poll workers. They say their systems are safe from hackers, and that a broader system of election checks and balances further minimizes the impact of any single software glitch or hacker. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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