State call for monitors angers county officials

Jim Schultz
Record Searchlight

 

February 14, 2004 — 2:08 a.m.
Shasta County's top election official doesn't want Big Brother looking over the shoulders of voters in the March 2 primary.

She's not alone.

County Clerk Ann Reed is one of 10 county election officials in California who want Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to rescind an order requiring monitors to, among other things, oversee touch-screen voting on Election Day.

"I'm not happy about that," Reed said Friday. "We've done very well in the past without having the secretary of state telling us what to do. It's not the state's job to come around harassing voters and my staff."

Shelley ordered the election monitors earlier this week to protect the integrity of touch-screen voting because the systems are reportedly vulnerable to corruption, according to The Associated Press.

But some election officials, including Reed, say the state's directive requiring the use monitors is intrusive, disruptive, costly and, in some cases, nearly impossible to carry out.

And, Reed said, she and her staff will do will do everything in their power to ensure the voting system is safe and secure and that each voter's ballot is counted accurately.

"I want them (voters) to know their votes will be counted," she said.

The Riverside County registrar, who is balking at the directives, estimates the state-ordered measures would cost that county more than $2.5 million.

Shasta County's estimated cost hasn't been determined.

San Bernardino Registrar Mischelle Townsend told The Associated Press that San Bernardino County used the touch-screen system in a January election in Highland, but it will be used for the first time countywide March 2.

"The state isn't willing to pay for this and, until they are, they need to test their hypothetical solutions," Townsend said.

With the March 2 primary only weeks away, county election officials also have their noses out of joint because the directives came down so close to Election Day with no discussions with the counties.

"He should have contacted the counties before he started issuing orders," said Reed. "It's a little late in the game."

County officials are also perturbed because monitors would be pulling some already assigned voting machines from service to test, which could cause a shortage of those machines and make it difficult, if not impossible, to close out the ballot counting.

Reed, who will discuss the state's orders on Tuesday with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, said the electronic voting machines have been used to Shasta County during the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis and for school and special district elections.

And, she said, there were no problems whatsoever.

"None," she said.

In Tehama County, where the electronic voting machines will be used for the first time March 2, Assistant Registrar of Voters Bev Ross said Friday that she's concerned the new directives might only make their task all that much more difficult.

"It's going to be new for everyone," she said.

Reporter Jim Schultz can be reached at 225-8223 or at jschultz@redding.com.