As reported in Naked City two weeks ago, controversial Texas-based electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold Election Systems received poor marks from a panel appointed by California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, which recommended decertifying Diebold’s AccuVote-TSx machines for use in California after many of the machines failed to work properly during the primaries. Shelley’s response went even further than the panel’s recommendations: On April 30, he instead decertified all electronic voting systems (including Austin-based Hart InterCivic‘s eSlate) previously approved for California elections and called for an investigation into Diebold’s alleged lying to the state. (Diebold was already the most controversial of the e-voting firms, in part due to its leaders’ strong support and fundraising for President Bush.)
Shelley told 10 of the 14 affected counties – those using systems other than Diebold’s – that they could reapply for certification if they met 23 new security conditions, including a voter-verifiable paper trail; several of those counties’ officials told the Los Angeles Times they doubted they could comply and would revert to paper-and-ink voting. The other four, which used Diebold, were told they were flat-out banned from using Diebold’s machines in November. “They broke the law,” Shelley told the Times, referring to Diebold’s use of software that was not state-approved (for which Diebold has apologized). “Their conduct was absolutely reprehensible. Their conduct should never be tolerated from anyone doing business again with the state of California.”
Despite having a major contract with Orange Co., Hart InterCivic (whose eSlate system is also used here in Travis Co.) does not expect much immediate impact to its business from Shelley’s decision. Hart spokeswoman Michelle Shafer told us that its sale to Orange Co. is already final, so now its responsibility is just to “work with them to provide whatever assistance we can so their voters can vote. We’re working through the different scenarios” to meet the 23 security conditions. She said Hart will not be providing the voter-verifiable option to Orange Co.
As for Shelley’s decision, “We were very surprised by the ruling and disappointed. We feel like the ruling attempts to paint all voting system vendors with the same brush due to difficulties one vendor had. That really tarnishes all of us unfairly. There were no problems with the eSlate system in Orange County – their issues were regarding training. There was no reason to decertify eSlate.” The eSlate system has been used several times in Travis Co. elections, thus far without any glitches. The machine has also been used successfully in Harris Co., and Hays Co. is currently leaning toward purchasing eSlate.
This article appears in May 14 • 2004.