Voting Machines Back in the Northwestern:

County may be in market for voting machines

Winnebago County could be in the market for a second set of new voting machines, depending on what happens to a bill working its way through Congress that could add new requirements for what counties need for disabled voters to cast private ballots.

The bill, currently in the U.S. House of Representatives, would require counties to have equipment that would scan ballots and read back a voter’s choices, or allow paper ballots to be marked through automatic marking equipment.

That provision would make all of the county’s voting machines obsolete, including Diebold Election Systems touch screen machines purchased in 2006, said Winnebago County Clerk Sue Ertmer.

Read it all here.

Northwestern Editorial: County Board Should Question Diebold

The Northwestern is right on in this analysis. Maybe we should have had a real forum and not a sales presentation:

Editorial: Final tally: County fails to deliver on high-tech election equipment

You buy a new DVD player. It's the one with high-quality images that will flow right into your older TV set. So, you get home, anxiously rip open the box, hook it up and press play.

The DVD movie inside is spinning and playing. But there's no picture to the TV screen. Something is wrong. It isn't working like the literature said it would, and it's not your fault.

Wouldn't you be a little miffed if that happened to you?

The problem Winnebago County and Wisconsin had with touch-screen voting machines is about just as frustrating… if you're willing to acknowledge something went wrong, that is.

On Sept. 12, Winnebago County voters and even county board members learned the hard way that the so-called "compatibility" of Diebold Elections Systems' touch-screen voting machines wasn't all that. County and municipal clerks statewide knew scanned paper ballots vs. touch screen ballots would not be compatible in the primary election and would require the manual entering of data collected by the touch-screens.

The touch screen election technology Winnebago County and other counties spent federally-mandated millions on wouldn't flow vote totals into county databases pooling all votes into results. So, clerks typed in the touch-screen totals recorded on paper records.

That's not how Diebold sold it to the full county board.

This morning, a county board committee will take up one skeptical supervisor's call to deny Diebold payment for 50 touch-screen machines. Supervisor Jef Hall argues voters didn't get what they paid for.

It's a debate worth having.

Winnebago County Clerk Sue Ertmer vouches for the system and Diebold. The Nov. 7 general election, she said, will work. Diebold's touch-screen machines will be tested ahead of time. They will "modem" vote totals over phone lines and flow those results into those tallied by conventional optical scan machines – the ones that swallow and tally most voters' ballots.

No hand tabulating. No potential human errors.

But there are still some questions worth asking this morning, including:

E Why didn't our clerks, Diebold or even the State Elections Board's executive director make clear that the compatibility issue would bog down the Sept. 12 election process? One is left to assume that they dared not broach a compatibility shortcoming when "compatibility" was Diebold's chief selling point to Winnebago County.

E Why did clerks in populous municipalities of St. Croix, Chippewa, Dunn and Waushara counties choose non-Diebold touch-screens to complement their Diebold optical scan machines? They have the same ballot-scan stuff Winnebago has, but, they chose a different company for touch screens. Apparently, they didn't buy or worry about Diebold's compatibility line.

There's been much ado about the electronic security of Diebold equipment. An election integrity watchdog has filed a petition with the State Elections Board asking all touch-screens be shelved due to their hack-ability, if you will.

But if Winnebago County's Diebold dilemma is taken seriously, it's not nefarious election hackers we need to worry about.

It's the sales pitches of companies selling us the goods.

Final Thought: There are fair questions to ask of the folks who sold us on the new voting technology we've got.

One correction to this, however. The meeting is this afternoon at 5:00PM, not this morning.

Northwestern does story on my Diebold resolution:

Supervisor urges county to withhold Diebold payment

Company: Problems fixable for November

By Bethany K. Warner of The Northwestern

Winnebago County Board Supervisor Jef Hall is proposing that the county withhold paying Diebold Election Systems for the county's new touch-screen voting machines because they did not perform as promised during the September
primary election.

Hall, the supervisor for the district that includes much of the central city of Oshkosh, wants the county to sit on the payment for the touch-screen voting machines because those machines did not communicate as promised with the county's existing optical scan voting machines following the September primary election. The county board agreed in June to spend $288,000 for the 50 machines.

After polls closed for the primary election in September, the county clerk had to add by hand votes cast on the touch-screen machines to the totals generated from the county's older optical scan machines.

Hall said that shows that the county was sold on the Diebold system with promises that were not true.

"If we were sold something on a fraudulent basis," Hall said, "I don't think we should pay for them until the time they do as we were told."

The problem on election night, state elections board officials said in September, was that a key piece of technology that allows the two systems to tally results together had not yet received federal or state approval for use in elections.

But the company and local election officials on Monday insisted that the problems were a one-time glitch that stemmed not from the technology, but rather from the design of the primary election ballots. That problem can be corrected for the Nov. 7 election, they said.

David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Elections Systems, said the optical-scan and touch-screen machines should communicate with each other if the ballots are designed properly. Bear said he was unaware of any additional piece of voting or counting equipment waiting on approval.

"I don't think so. It was a matter of having to layout a ballot to have a special need for write-ins," Bear said.

The problem that delayed final vote totals after the primary should be corrected by November, said Winnebago County Clerk Sue Ertmer.

Ertmer said Diebold has told her that the machines will communicate without a problem with the November ballot. That ballot is currently waiting for state approval.

Ertmer said she knew that results in September would have to be hand-tabulated but acknowledges she did not alert the county board to that fact.

The money for the voting machines will ultimately be reimbursed to the county by the federal government. The county selected Diebold's touch-screen machines to meet a requirement of the Help America Vote Act to provide voting machines that improve access for disabled voters.

Hall's request goes before the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Friday.

"They don't live up to their commitment and I think we should hold them to that in Winnebago county," Hall said.

Should be a fun one...

The next agenda for the full county board is here.

3 resolutions should end up getting attention...

RESOLUTION NO. 89-92006: Reduce Size of Winnebago County Board to 36 Members
Submitted by:
PATRICK O’BRIEN, DIST. #38
HARVEY RENGSTORF, DIST. #37
CHUCK FARREY, DIST. #30
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISORS

RESOLUTION NO. 90-92006: Withhold Payment to Diebold for Voting Machines Until Fully Functional
Submitted by:
JEF HALL, DIST. #17
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR

RESOLUTION NO. 91-92006: Authorize Reduction of Size of County Board from 38 to 32 Members
Submitted by:
DAVID ALBRECHT, DIST. #11
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR

Why are there 2 resolutions on board size? Progress Oshkosh is starting a petition today. Once the petition is in, we cannot reduce ourselves. However, if we reduce ourselves before it is in, it doesn't matter if they turn in a petition, we can only be reduced once betweencensusess.

From the Progess Oshkosh email:

Progress Oshkosh has rescheduled "The Power Hour of Progress" to Wednesday, Sept 20th at the Algoma Club in downtown Oshkosh at 5:30PM. There are 4 items on the agenda:

1. Launch a Referendum drive for the Winnebago County Board. The Citizens Unite to Transform the Winnebago County Board (CUT Winnebago County Board) will begin their Referendum Drive for reducing the Size of the Winnebago County Board from 38 members to 19 members. (Presented by the CUT Winnebago County Board Committee)

This is an end-around to get past the petition. What will happen? I don't know. I will listen to people's arguments. I will act if there are real reasons.

Just like I don't believe Progress Oshkosh has a good reason to come up with the number 19, I will listen for reasons that 36 or 32 were chosen.

I have our IS Committee meeting tonight, so I will be stopping by Progress Oshkosh's event, but will be unable to stay for it all.

I'll report more tomorrow...

One other comment on Tuesday's resolutions...

What did we accomplish by removing the position?

RESOLUTION: Transfer $40,000 from the Salary Contingency Fund to the Wage and Benefit Accounts of District Attorney Department's 2006 Budget

TO THE WINNEBAGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
WHEREAS, the 2006 budget for this department was reduced by one legal secretary; and

WHEREAS, the amount of work has remained the same or increased slightly; and

WHEREAS, the remaining legal secretaries have worked more overtime to complete the required workload; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the three above items, there will not be sufficient funds in the departments budget to fund the wages and benefits for the entire year 2006.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby appropriates $40,000 from the Salary Contingency Fund of Winnebago County's General Fund to the District Attorney's Wage and Benefit Account of the 2006 budget.

Fiscal note: This will reduce the salary contingency fund by $40,000.

I am probably going to vote for this, but I think the point needs to be made that we cannot continue to cut in areas that are mandated. We will not save any money, as this shows.

If we are going to cut, it needs tomeaningfulfull. Or, we need to be honest about how many people it takes to do this work.

Diebold did not do what we were told it would do...

I will be submitting a resolution to ask for a refund/payment from Diebold for the overtime.

The Northwestern is right on here:

As our county clerks spent the day manually entering touch-screen vote totals into a catch-call county database, our State Elections Board explained a component that helps the new Diebold machines combine information with the old is, effectively, on order.

The Federal
Elections Commission hasn't approved it yet. Might be next year. Also, a formatting issue between digital and paper versions of our ballots swamped quick results. So, our county clerks spent Tuesday night and all day Wednesday flowing the touch-screen's paper results into the county's main vote database.

This is not the scenario that we were sold. Would Diebold please explain to everyone what exactly wasn't explained before we signed our contract?

Were we lied to?

When the County Board approved the Diebold purchase (I voted nay), we were told that we could only purchase Diebold because they worked with our current systems.

I asked why we could not use a system that is not complimentary with the current one and simply count those separately. There are electronic systems out there that will print an actual ballot - I consider these more safe.

The Outagamie County Clerk told the board that in her county they have more than one system, and that a single system would be better because of efficiency. They spend all night putting together their results and it takes too long.

I asked if thier results are correct, and she said yes, of course they are - even with the different systems.

We were then told by Diebold and our clerks that with thier system, this would not be a problem, because all were in sync. Election results would be instant!

Then we see this:

Vote tabulation continues
Officials in the Winnebago County Clerk's office are still counting votes from Tuesday’s election this morning, but expect to be done tallying votes by noon.

The final results in the election were delayed because of the need to manually enter votes cast on the new touch-screen voting machines.

The touch-screen machines were used for the first time in this election after being purchased in June to bring the county into compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act, which was intended to provide more access to the polls for disabled voters.

The problem stems from the design of the ballot approved by the State Elections Board, which was in a format that was incompatible with the new machines’ vote tabulating system.About 1,200 ballots were cast Tuesday using the new machines.

Clerks assure that the problem is easily remedied and will be corrected in time for the Nov. 7 election.

Will it? We were told the problem would not happen at all...

Babblemur (Oshkosh Blogger & Poll Worker) Has a Recap of Diebold Training

Click here for his coverage.

The $2500 Sales Presentation

Here I am, filling out my Per Diem Report (a time card for County Board Supervisors) when it hits me.

We get paid $60 for full board meetings vs $40 for committee hearings. That means the 25 Supervisors present at the Diebold sales presentation last month were paid a total of $2100. This does not include the salaries of other county employees or other costs to having a meeting.

Was it really worth it to spend $2500 of County funds to see just one machine and not be allowed a real debate on the issue? Were the taxpayers and voters truly served by this fiasco?

Or was it one big waste of time and money?

It might have been worth it had the County Board Chair listened to the recommendation of the Judiciary and IS (of which I am a member) Committees and invited as many vendors as would attend. We could have gotten real information and accountability out to the public.

As it was, I would hope someone in the county would try to re-coup the money spent on this from Diebold.

It was their sales presentation, after all.

Northwestern: Diebold 'Rushed"

Listed under their bad news on Public Accountability:

County government rushed to support buying Diebold touch-screen voting machines.

Northwestern Coverage of the Diebold Vote is Right On:

Here is the story - My favorite parts are highlighted:

Grant, Diebold get nods in county

County Board votes 28-10 to approve reimbursable purchase for touch-screen ballot machines

By Alex Hummel of The Northwestern

You will officially have the choice of darkening ovals or tapping touch-screens in Winnebago County come September.

The Winnebago County Board voted 28-10 Tuesday to spend $288,000 on 50 touch-screen voting machines, one for each county polling place. The technology is recommended by the county's municipal clerks to comply with federal election law. But it continues to rile skeptics warning of 21st century election meddling.

A first attempt to approve the purchase failed in a May board vote, lacking a needed supermajority.

Tuesday's vote was preceded by one more call for delay, additional emphasis on reports of Diebold Election Systems security flaws and new demands to listen to the disabled community, the largely-ignored and long-disenfranchised voting population the new technology is intended to empower.

"Now is not the time to act," said Supervisor Shiloh Ramos of Neenah, urging an August vote so officials could investigate the Help America Vote Act options to satisfy disabled and blind voters. "Now is the time to listen. Now is the time to investigate."

The Help America Vote Act requires improved access to elections for physically disabled, visually-impaired and blind Americans. In Wisconsin, municipal clerks were given the power to recommend which Help America Vote Act-compliant remedies polling places should use.

Winnebago County's clerks favor Diebold's touch-screens, compatible with the county's existing electronic scan ballot counters. The county was tapped as a central purchaser of the technology and will be reimbursed by the federal government.

One touch-screen machine is planned for each of the county's 48 polling places. The city of Oshkosh and Winnebago County each get one extra to help program digital ballots. Clerks ensure the Diebold equipment is safe and secure. But even Tuesday, concerns about security and paper trails dominated debate.

"When I go to a bank and a TYME machine, I get a receipt," said Supervisor Bill Wingren of Oshkosh.
County Clerk Sue Ertmer stressed without the vote Tuesday, it would have been up to the county's individual towns, cities and villages to hustle up and comply with the Vote Act on their own. The technology needs to be in place by this approaching election cycle.

"We can't just wait until July," Ertmer told the board.

If you put Supervisor Ramos' comment together with County Clerk Ertmer's, don't you end up with:

"There is a time to think and there is a time to act. And this, gentlemen, is no time to think." (Bud Boomer, Canadian Bacon)

P.S. - I agreed with Supervisor Ramos 100%

I will have my debate and vote recap of this issue up tonight, hopefully.

What They Won't Admit When You Are Trying to Buy....

Diebold takes rap for voting issues

By Staff Reporter
Published: Friday,
June 16, 2006 7:16 PM CDTE
The Kern County Board of Supervisors will meet Tuesday at 9 a.m. to receive a full report on the problems voters experienced in the June 6 primary election from Diebold Elections Systems, Inc. officials and county elections officials.

The company that sold Kern County its $5-million touch-screen voting machines took full responsibility at last week's board meeting.
Diebold representatives told the supervisors that bad voting cards and bad communication caused voters to be turned away from many Kern polls June 6.

“I am happy Diebold stepped up to the plate and admitted their errors, and I look forward to receiving the full report at the next meeting,” said Kern County 1st District Supervisor Jon McQuiston.

The meeting will take place in the board's chambers at 1115 Truxtun Ave. in Bakersfield and will be broadcast on Mediacom Channel 16. Local residents may also participate via the two-way video teleconferencing link at the County Administrative Building at 400 N. China Lake Blvd. Anyone wishing to comment should call McQuiston's Administrative Assistant Craig Peterson at 384-5829.

According to last weeks sales presentation, they don't malfunction.....

Let's Push It Until We Have A Real Hearing

Touch-screen decision pushed to next week
by Alex Hummel of The Northwestern
Touch-screen voting machines or not, the Winnebago County Board’s indecision is certainly touching a nerve.

On Wednesday, coming off a mid-May county board defeat of a resolution to buy 49 high-tech digital touch-screen voting machines, the Winnebago County Board voted 28-6 to reconsider measure on June 20. They stopped short of actually casting a second vote on a controversial topic.

At its regular meeting on June 20, the 38-member board will reconsider the defeated resolution to spend a federally-reimbursable $288,000 and buy 50 Diebold Elections Systems touch-screen voting machines to comply with the Help America Vote Act.

HAVA contains a provision calling for touch-screen technology, or something like it, to improve access to the U.S. election system for physically disabled, visually-impaired and blind Americans. But what technology is the right technology to incorporate into local polling places is stirring debate in Winnebago County and, apparently, on a scale like none other in Wisconsin, State Elections Board Executive Director Kevin Kennedy said Wednesday.

Kennedy was among the speakers in a supercharged public forum on the issue at the Winnebago County Courthouse. Elected officials, disabled advocates and skeptical citizens aired vastly different views and reviews of Diebold’s technology.

Municipal clerks in Winnebago County favor its machines because they would be the least-costly, most-compatible add-on to the county’s existing electronic-ballot scanning machines. Critics question the equipment’s integrity, its ability to produce paper verification of digital ballots and mounting reports of lawsuits flaring up around the United States as paper jams and security issues dog the machines.

A small anti-Diebold protest greeted supervisors entering the courthouse on Wednesday. The pressure was on Sandy Smick in a different way.

The Oshkosh woman, 61, has a developmental disability. Bad knees and, sometimes, the lack of a ride to the polling place have prevented her from voting, she said. But Wednesday evening, she found herself giving the Diebold touch-screen voting machine causing such a ruckus a try in front of 38 county supervisors. She dished out fairly high marks.

“Pretty cool,” Smick said smiling, having tapped her decision on a digital Diebold ballot with the aid of a company rep.

Shirley Schmidt, 66, of Oshkosh, was, likewise, empowered.

Schmidt, who has been blind since birth, said she had to be “patient” with the Diebold machine’s audio delivery of ballot information via headphones. But she also said she liked the taste of independence. She cast her own ballot – however fake it was – for a first time, no human assistant required.

“I just hope people will use it,” Schmidt said. “Sometimes, they put stuff out for the disabled and the disabled won’t use it.”

Michael Huckaby wasn’t as sold.

The blind Madisonian and representative of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin made a special trip to Oshkosh Wednesday to weigh in on the local HAVA touch-screen debate. He told the county board the audio-features of the Diebold product can produce a “Chipmunky” sound if a voter accidentally speeds up a handheld control of the human voice delivering ballot information to the voter.

“I don’t like the way it Chipmunks on you,” Huckaby said.

Diebold representative Steve Corey stressed that fears of computer hacking and paper-record malfunctions are, largely, just that.

Diebold’s machine does produce a paper roll authenticating a voter’s intent after a digital ballot is tapped out. Only after the paper record is printed and stored in a sealed canister is a voter allowed to “cast” his or her ballot digitally, Corey said.

Kennedy, too, assured the county board and audience that the State Elections Board did all it could to screen the HAVA equipment for bugs.

County board Supervisor Jef Hall, of Oshkosh, questioned why the county board was given no menu of HAVA-compliance options cleared by state elections officials. Hall also challenged both Corey and Kennedy on the security and effectiveness of the Diebold systems.

“Can I stand here and tell you this device will never jam – no,” Corey told Hall at one point.

A UWO computer science professor and the Oshkosh Area League of Women Voters were among other skeptical locals to testify against Diebold’s system."

The county and municipal clerks acted in good faith to recommend this purchase; however, LWV believes that purchase of Diebold touch screen voting machines would be a mistake,” League representative Kathy Propp said in a statement given to the county board.

Alex Hummel: (920) 426-6669 or ahummel@thenorthwestern.com.

June 20th Agenda is available

It will be a full meeting. The agenda is here.

Some highlights:

RESOLUTION NO. 29-52006: Authorize Acceptance of a Grant of up to $288,000 for the Purchase of 50New Voting Machines for County and Municipal Use and Appropriate Funds to Capital Outlay Account in the County Clerk’s 2006 Budget for that Purpose.
Submitted by:
JOHN SCHAIDLER, DISTRICT NO. 28 COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR
Comment: As most know, I am against using the Diebold machine, and believe we should not approve this until we have a real hearing in which we see all the options available.

RESOLUTION NO. 38-62006: Authorize Creation of Park View Health Center Construction Project Fund with Oshkosh Area Community FoundationSubmitted
by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE
COMMITTEE
Comment: I believe that we need an easy way to allow people to donate to Park View. This seems like a good idea to me.

RESOLUTION NO. 39-62006: Authorize Creation of Park View Health Center Endowment Fund
Submitted by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: Same as above - we need an easy way for people to donate to Park View

ORDINANCE NO. 40-62006: Amend Section 5.07(5)(d)(a) of the General Code of Winnebago County (Daily Jail Fee)
Submitted by: JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
Comment: I will have some real questions about this. My gut reaction is that we should not put people back on the street from jail with a debt burden. If we want to rehabilitate and not encourage re-offending, this is a bad idea. Also, if we truly want truth insentencingg, then make this part of the fine and resitution, not a back-door way of collecting more from the inmates. I am not 100% decided, but that is where I lean. I look forward to the discussion

RESOLUTION NO. 43-62006: Authorize Payment for Excess Committee Days (April 1, 2005 thru April 17, 2006)
Submitted by: PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: I am not quite sure what this is about. I will be asking around.

RESOLUTION NO. 49-62006: Authorize Appropriation of $164,000 to Resurface the Parking Lot for the Courthouse and Orrin King Building
Submitted by: FACILITIES & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment:preventivee maintenance is important to save money, plus the lot is in District 17, which I am very interested in keeping beautiful.

RESOLUTION NO. 50-62006: Authorize Appropriation of $262,000 to Replace the Roof at the Orrin King Building
Submitted by: FACILITIES & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: Same as above -preventivee maintenance is important to save money, plus the building is in District 17, which I am very interested in keeping beautiful.

RESOLUTION NO. 51-62006: Authorize a Transfer of $72,000 from the Highway Department Fund and $8,000 from the Planning Department Professional Services Fund to the County Road Maintenance Cost Center for an Interchange Study
Submitted by: HIGHWAY COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: We need a way to reduce traffic at the Breezewood interchange. I have heard from many people in the county who support this - as do I.

RESOLUTION NO. 52-62006: Authorize Acceptance of a Donation of $100,000 and Appropriation of Said Money for the Courtyard Garden and Paved Wheelchair Path at the New Park View Health Center Facility
Submitted by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: I am very proud of the involvement J. J. Keller has in the county. That said, because I work there, I will be abstaining from this vote.

RESOLUTION NO. 53-62006: Approve Industrial Development Board Loan – Village of Winneconne
Submitted by: INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD
Comment: It is good to see the county helping develop small business. The fact that this is a loan and not a grant makes it even that much easier to support.

RESOLUTION NO. 54-62006: Authorize Appropriation of $400,000 for the First Phase of the Radio System Upgrade in the Sheriff’s Department
Submitted by: JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: Public Safety is the most important job of the county government. This is the definition of a need versus a want.

Not a Hearing, A Sales Presentation

I am outraged by how last night's meeting went.

Originally, it was to be a joint IS & Judiciary meeting. The IS Committee (which I am a member) had directed County Clerk Sue Ertmer to invite as many vendors as would show up.

Then, when Chair Albrect decided that the meeting should be for the entire county board, he unilaterally decided to invite only the Diebold salesman.

Therefore, an opportunity for open government and honest debate was shut down. It was shut down by one person acting on his own.

We did not give fair service and representations to voters with disabilities in Winnebago County last night. We did not advance the debate on the issue. We did nothing to increase public confidence in our decisions. We failed, blew hot air and wasted time.

Unless we have a true hearing, in which we see all machines and have an open debate instead of a sales job, we will have failed the voters of Winnebago County.

League of Women Voters urges County Board to delay or reject touch-screen voting

League of Women Voters urges County Board to delay or reject touch-screen voting

The Oshkosh Area League of Women Voters is asking the Winnebago County Board to delay a vote on or completely reject controversial touch-screen voting machines intended to comply with a federal law.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, League representative Kathy Propp echoed the national organization's stance -- that touch screen voting may have fundamental flaws. "We are not advocating in favor of any particular vendor," Propp's statement reads. "However, the League of Women Voters has serious questions about whether the Diebold touch screen voting machines meet our criteria of 'secure, accurate, recountable, accessible, with voter verifiable paper record.' The county and municipal clerks acted in good faith to recommend this purchase; however, LWV believes that purchase of Diebold touch screen voting machines would be a mistake."

The Oshkosh chapter urges the county board to put off or kill a resolution calling for a $288,000 purchase of 50 Diebold Election Systems touch-screen units, intended to provider greater ease and independence in voting for disabled, visually impaired and blind people.

California Elections: Diebold Machines Breakdown

Machine problems caused other voters to be sent away without being able to vote in Stockton, Lodi, Tracy and Morada. Officials said the machines were touch-screen devices manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. Diebold has been under scrutiny by federal and state officials.

Oakland Ditches Diebold After Lawsuit

Alameda County approves new voting system
By Chris Metinko
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

OAKLAND - Alameda County supervisors on Thursday approved plans for a new voting system, consisting mainly of paper ballots that will be scanned electronically and touch screens for use by disabled voters.

The board voted 3-2 to purchased the new system from Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems and hopes to have it in place for November's election. The new system would give the county 1,000 optical scanners and 1,000 touch-screens, enough to put one of each at every polling location.

The decision on the new system did not come easy. Dozens of county voters questioned the reliability of touch-screen voting machines.

"I don't understand why we have to get these expensive machines that are full of problems," said John Morton of Oakland who favored going back to a hand count. "I don't think waiting a day or two for results (of an election) is going to matter to most people."

The county has a spotty record with purchasing new voting systems.

In 2001, the county purchased 4,000 Diebold touch-screen machines for $12 million, but the move soon proved troublesome. The equipment had glitches, including once assigning votes to the wrong candidate.

Diebold eventually agreed in 2004 to pay the state and Alameda County $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it made false claims when it sold its equipment to the county. The settlement came after local and state officials found Diebold had installed uncertified software in the county's touch-screens and that its system was vulnerable to hackers.

Many who spoke Thursday favored a blended system made by Election Systems & Software -- the same company Contra Costa and Solano counties use for their elections.

From a Salt Lake Tribune Article:

"Most of the vendors use a process that is secure. You need authorized media, passwords and other security," Shamos says. "With Diebold's machines, you don't need any of that."

Northwestern: Don't Rush Into Diebold, Chairman Albrecht!

Thank you, Northwestern, for this editorial

Editorial: County shouldn't rush to purchase voting machines

Winnebago County's rush to judgment to purchase touch screen voting machines is a disservice to citizens with grave concerns about the technology.

Winnebago County Board Chairman David Albrecht hasn't spelled out any compelling reason to push for quicker action in the face of controversy surrounding the touch-screen voting machines. Albrecht canceled a scheduled committee meeting on the subject in preference for moving the issue to the full county board, with a possible vote being taken on June 14. That effectively limits public debate on the topic.

There's no compelling reason for the county to rush the issue at the expense of a full public discussion.

Admittedly, the touch-screen voting machines have an appeal. They'll help the county comply with the Help America Vote Act that demands greater accessibility for people with disabilities. The Diebold touch-screen machines under review also connect technologically with paper-ballot scanning machines now in use. And we may end up buying Diebold touch-screen machines. But the county's credibility depends on avoiding the appearance of stiffling public debate to railroad a purchase.

Logic demands a public hearing to air concerns about how accurately a touch-screen machine truly transfers the decision made on the screen into a real vote.

Logic demands answers to questions about how touch-screen machines will perform in the event of a recount where voter intent must be verified.

Logic also demands that if supervisors are going to hear a sales pitch from one of the four state-approved vendors of HAVA-compliant machines that the county should hear the sales pitch from the three other vendors. Our county will commit a serious breach of business ethics that may land it in court with so much preference shown to Diebold.

Again, what should happen is to have a June 14 committee hearing to examine the available machines. Answer the concerns about touch-screen machines. Let people air other issues. Government isn't in the business to squlech public discussion. Remember, the decision made – even with state grant money paying for the purchase – will affect our county for many years.

Government integrity demands openness on all counts. Fast-tracking a purchase with long-term effects isn't right. Chairman Albrecht should see that his credibility and government's credibility depends on moving carefully when more questions are raised, instead of moving more quickly.

The Final Thought: County government should hold a hearing June 14 to investigate concerns about voting machines.

Once again, let Chairman Albrecht know you want him to slow down and make sure your questions are answered:

Chairman Albrecht's email address is dalbrecht@winnebago.wi.us - his phone number is (920) 235-4959

Dealing with Deibold flaws...

From Technology Marketing:

Hench, like dozens of other election officials who will be overseeing the use of Diebold machines, received a letter earlier this month informing her that the company had identified a potentially devastating flaw, which could let someone with access to the machine insert a virus into the system.

"It's like holding a loaded gun to your head and saying, 'Well, unless you pull the trigger there's not much risk,' " said David Dill, a Stanford computer science professor who has studied the Diebold machines. Computer experts are not reporting the specifics of the flaw, not wanting to tip off potential hackers on how to corrupt an election.