Voting machines still touchy subject

Two firms plan to conduct audits

By MAUREEN HAYDEN Evansville Courier & Press November 16, 2004

The November general election was two weeks ago, but it may be some time before the results are in on how the county's new touch-screen voting machines performed.

Two audits, one independent and one done by the company that owns the touch-screen machines, are about to get under way. The Vanderburgh County Commissioners voted Monday to support a request for $37,500 for an independent audit of the Nov. 2 election results, after resident complaints of machine malfunctions and long voter lines. The audit will be performed by SysTest Labs of Denver, a private software testing company. SysTest served as one of two test centers authorized by the National Association of State Election Directors to provide independent testing of electronic voting systems approved for use by communities across the nation in the November election, including the system used by Vanderburgh County voters.

  
It was SysTest that certified the touch-screen machines used locally and manufactured by Election Systems & Software, also known as ES&S. Vanderburgh County has a $2.9 million contact to lease the ES&S machines for five years. Commissioners on Monday rejected an offer by a company known as Democracy Systems to do a similar audit for $112,000.

But before SysTest can begin its work, the company must submit a more detailed proposal of how it will conduct the audit. Included in a brief description presented to commissioners Monday was a proposal that included conducting a "mock election" to see if SysTest could reproduce the problems that occurred locally during the Nov. 2 election. Those problems, which included equipment failure while votes were being cast, will be the subject of the other audit scheduled to begin today. It's to be conducted by ES&S officials, as part of their routine follow-up when a problem-plagued election occurs. The company told commissioners last week of its plans to evaluate every machine, including a review of how each vote was cast on each machine in every precinct in the county. The ES&S audit is expected to take at least until Friday to complete. That is, if it gets started on time. Last week, an ES&S official agreed, at the commissioners' request, to begin the company's audit today, to allow the commission time to appoint two audit "overseers," one Republican and one Democrat, to look over the shoulder of ES&S as it conducts the audit. ES&S officials arrived in Evansville on Monday, expecting the audit to begin as scheduled this morning. Company officials were in the county's Election Office reviewing their list of tasks with election officials, including Vanderburgh County Clerk Marsha Abell. But during Monday's commission meeting, held in the evening, Commissioners President Catherine Fanello said she had not heard from anyone at ES&S about when the audit would begin.

"They've refused to return our calls," said Fanello, a Democrat whose term on the commission ends in December. Fanello then instructed Matthew Arvay, the county's chief information officer, to contact ES&S to instruct the company to postpone the audit.

Fanello said the two appointees to oversee the audit, Evansville attorney Tom Massey and election volunteer Tammy Barnett, had not been informed by the commissioners as to when the ES&S audit would begin.

But Abell, a Republican, reached at home Monday evening, said the ES&S audit will be today, on time. "We'll start Tuesday morning, regardless of what she (Fanello) says," said Abell, the county clerk who was elected last month to the County Council. Abell said the process is open, and she's invited the media to come to the election office to witness ES&S conducting its audit.

Meanwhile, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita arrived in Evansville to hand Abell a check for $857,744 as reimbursement for a portion of the county's cost of leasing the touch-screen machines. The money comes from state and federal funds designated to help local communities make the switch to electronic voting equipment. The money is part of $13 million handed out by Rokita to Indiana counties so far this fall who have made the switch.