If it weren’t for Christine Jennings, would the general public fathom the urgency for voting system accountability? I think it’s the numbers. She lost by 369 votes. The Democrat is still in the fight for that Florida congressional seat, though. Contending that the loss was due to an undervote of over 18,000 ascribed to malfunctioning touch-screen machines, she has gone to court and to Congress.
Jennings is still trying to force Election Systems & Software to cough up iVotronic computer codes; probably the Florida Supreme Court will make the ultimate decision. Meanwhile, an independent lawsuit for a revote is being pursued by a coalition of the ACLU of Florida, VoterAction, People for the American Way Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The House Administration Committee, which has authority over contested House elections, has opened an investigation. The chair wrote a cautionary letter to Sarasota county’s election supervisor, requesting the preservation of election material (software, poll books, and the like).
We’re on a roll this week.
- The Senate Rules and Administration Committee, chaired by Sen. Feinstein, is holding a hearing on electronic election reform, going beyond the Florida race.
- Florida’s touch-screen electronic machines will be converted to optical scan machines, paid by the state (not the counties) if all goes as planned by newly-elected Gov. Crist in his budget proposal. The plan is criticized, though, for allowing current touch-screen machines to be equipped with printers for disabled access — no cure for any underlying troubled technology.
- Rep. Holt will once again introduce his legislation, the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act,” requiring electronic machines to have paper back-up. It also would toughen requirements for touch-screen machines that have printers — hence, “increased accessibility.” The bill has 222 co-sponsors. Under last year’s supine Congress, he couldn’t even get it out of the Republican-dominated committee.
Kudos to a project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s law school for helping Rep. Holt in drafting his measure. Last October it issued a report on voting system security, accessibility, usability, and cost.
I don’t think voters last year said to themselves: “We need a Democratic majority because otherwise we won’t get electronic voting reform.” No matter. We’re seeing lots of good stuff that had been bottled up. Changes are a-comin’. Cheers! (clink)
