County officials challenge state over voting machines

ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS FACE SECURITY TESTS

By Elise Ackerman

Mercury News

Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Jesse Durazo and nine other California elections officials have challenged Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's authority to require security measures to safeguard the integrity of electronic voting systems in next month's presidential primary.

In a Feb. 10 letter made public Friday, the county election officers accused Shelley of overstepping his jurisdiction and ``misleading the public we serve'' about the security and accuracy of the electronic systems.

Last week, Shelley ordered the random testing of touch-screen voting machines and other measures in response to reports that demonstrated how software flaws in electronic voting systems could allow hackers to manipulate votes and change election results.

The county election officials who signed the letter represent Santa Clara, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Joaquin, Napa, Kern, Plumas and Shasta counties. Those counties have recently purchased new touch-screen voting systems.

Though the systems are state-certified, they have come under increasing criticism for security flaws. The machines also lack the ability to produce an independent paper record that can be used to verify contested elections.

``At a time when our collective focus should be to take all steps necessary to protect the security and integrity of the March 2 election on behalf of California's voters, your letter suggests you oppose these steps because you perceive them as an infringement on your `turf,' '' Shelley wrote in a letter sent to county officials Friday night.

``Frankly, I cannot understand why any public official would oppose these measures,'' Shelley wrote. ``If the software malfunctions, or is corrupted, there is no way to reconstruct the results of an election.''

Among other precautions, Shelley has ordered county election officials to post election results at individual polling places to guard against glitches that can affect central vote-counting computers.