Voting machines safe for now

By GREG MOBERLY, Times-Herald staff writer and JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer

Vallejo Times-Herald   28 December 2005 

Solano County leaders could breathe a sigh of relief Tuesday when the state announced it would not decertify voting machines used here.

If the state had gone forward with its threat to decertify the Election Systems and Software used in Solano and in 10 other California counties, it likely would have meant Solano would have to replace its voting machines for the second time in nearly two years.

But after threatening potential decertification of the ES&S voting machine company, a Secretary of State's office spokeswoman said Tuesday the state was satisfied the company would make necessary improvements.

Specifically, in a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Secretary of State for Elections Bradley J. Clark warned he'd start the process of decertifying ES&S machines for use in California if senior officials didn't address concerns with vote counts and verification, problems that surfaced during the state's Nov. 8 special election. The concerns needed to be dealt with immediately, the letter said.

"They've thoroughly met our needs," Secretary of State spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns said Tuesday, adding that the company addressed the concerns "one by one."

The state targeted ES&S because of software problems including incorrect counting of turnout figures, a malfunction that prevented voters from verifying that their choices were registered accurately and one machine recording the wrong vote during a test, according to the letter.

Eleven California counties used ES&S machines during the special election. The company's equipment also is used in 45 other states.

The problems in California were similar to ones the company experienced elsewhere. During a 2004 primary election in Hawaii, glitches with the company's optical scanners led to a miscount of about 6,000 votes.

Despite those troubles, Solano County experienced no major problems with the machines in both November elections this year and in 2004.

"That's what I would have guessed," said Supervisor Barbara Kondylis, District 1-Vallejo, when informed of the good news from the Secretary of State's office. "I hadn't heard any complaints or concerns."

Since she hadn't heard of any problems locally with the ES&S machines, Kondylis said she wasn't as concerned when she initially heard of troubles elsewhere.

Supervisor Duane Kromm, District 3-Fairfield, said he was pleased to hear ES&S was able to address the concerns.

Kromm said he's been impressed with Secretary of State Bruce McPherson who visited Solano County's election offices shortly before the special election.

"He's focused on what's needed for good, safe, honest and incredibly accurate elections," Kromm said.

Solano County uses ES&S's optical scan equipment which requires voters to fill in the appropriate bubble with a pen or pencil.

Prior to the county's contract with ES&S, supervisors pulled the plug on its contract with touch-screen voting machine provider Diebold in May 2004 amid security concerns and the state's subsequent decertification of that company's TSX machines. Solano had used the machines without major problems.

Diebold still is a concern for the secretary of state's office.

The office recently warned 17 counties that machines made by Diebold must pass more rigorous security tests to be available for use in 2006. At issue with those machines is the computer language that secures ballot entries and instructs election officials on how to access and tally the votes.

In Clark's letter to ES&S, he said that on Nov. 8, a state monitoring team "experienced an alarming error on the iVotronic system in Merced County, where a voter chose one candidate but the vote was recorded for another candidate. This error is documented on videotape and demonstrates that it was not an operator error, but was, rather, an error in the system."

The problem arose on the company's touch screen machine, which was used only in Merced County. The other counties used optical scan machines that read ballots.

Ken Fields, a ES&S spokesman, said company officials have reviewed the state's videotape and blamed the problem on the tester's long fingernails. He said the vote-tester touched the screen with her fingernail to register her vote, rather than her fingertips.

"The iVotronic touch screens are designed to be used by soft-touched objects," he said. "We do not recommend sharp, hard objects like a stylus, a pen or fingernails."