Security concerns may delay vote system

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

Controversial electronic voting machines, which were supposed to be introduced throughout the United States next year, likely won't be used statewide in the 2004 elections because Secretary of State Sam Reed says better security is needed.

Reed already has asked the federal government to push back its November deadline for installing at least one electronic voting machine in every polling place.

The machine mandates are part of a sweeping election-reform bill passed by Congress after the lengthy, chaotic and controversial recount of ballots in the 2000 presidential election. The recount in Florida made "hanging chads" and "pregnant chads" famous — and led Congress to push for uniform voting systems nationwide that would reduce voter confusion and the vagaries of the counting process.

Reed held a news conference yesterday to say he will ask the 2004 Legislature to require all electronic machines also to produce a paper record of the ballot. By doing so, the paper ballots could be used for a recount in close races or to answer questions about the operation of the computerized machines. The paper trail would also allow voters to see that their votes were recorded properly.

The legislation would require ballot-counting systems to be kept under higher security and would prohibit connecting any of the machines to a computer network, including the Internet.

"We don't want to make it possible for anyone from the outside to get into this equipment and change it and manipulate it," Reed said.

The delay in installing the machines is necessary, Reed said, because companies are not yet selling machines that produce a hard-copy audit trail.

He asked for the delay in Washington after California and other states did the same, saying that the buying power of larger states will force manufacturers to produce machines that meet the audit requirements.

It's worth waiting until the 2006 elections, Reed said, "to ensure public trust and public confidence in this new technology."

Critics have questioned security surrounding electronic voting, which is currently in limited use around the country. Flaws have been detected in some of the systems, and some experts have said the systems are open to manipulation, malfunction and fraud.

One of the nation's leading critics held her own news conference in Seattle yesterday afternoon.

Bev Harris, author of "Black Box Voting," said the state is already lax in computer security. Harris, a Renton resident, said that voting software used by some Washington counties had been d by programmers working for contractors without the changes being certified, as called for by the federal government.

"We've got a security breach of the first degree," she said.

State Elections Director Dave Elliott agreed that updating is a problem, but he said it usually involves small technical fixes. Legislation proposed by Reed yesterday would require closer supervision of any software changes.

Andy Stephenson, a Democrat who hopes to run against Reed, a Republican, next year, appeared with Harris. He said Reed's proposal does not go far enough.

"It should be a hand-counted paper ballot," Stephenson said at the news conference held in front of a large campaign banner. Later he added, "Until the problems are addressed and fixed, I wouldn't trust my ballot to any machine."

The federal law requires at least one machine — generally a touch-screen computer — to make voting easier for the disabled.

The machines also allow states to meet the federal requirements for "second-chance voting," a way to review their ballot before submitting it.

Snohomish County, which has replaced all its polling machines with electronic versions, is the only county in the state with widespread use of electronic voting machines.

County Auditor Bob Terwilliger said the machines are not connected to any network and can be upgraded to include paper copies of the ballots.

Reed said that even before requesting legislation for higher security, he had asked the Federal Elections Assistance Commission to delay full implementation of the Help America Vote Act because federal money has been slow getting to the state.

David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com