Group wants judge to order upgrades to electronic voting machines

JIM WASSERMAN for the Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Two weeks before California's March 2 primary, a group alleging widespread potential security glitches in electronic voting machines is asking a judge to make counties install new safeguards before voting begins.

Citizens from Solano, Sacramento, San Diego and Stanislaus counties filed their request for a temporary restraining order Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior Court. It asks that up to 18 counties using machines made by Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems add more safeguards to protect them against hackers.

Court officials scheduled a hearing on the issue at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, along with an accompanying lawsuit seeking to stop the state and Diebold from using "insecure" voting machinery. California counties are using three versions of Diebold systems to register votes and the company's software to tally them.

Court officials delayed Tuesday's hearing on the lawsuit after a courtroom mix up.

The new legal challenge comes as 10 counties are already balking at Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's directive to further protect Diebold and Sequoia Voting Systems machines before the primary. Shelley, expressing fears of skewed election results from software corruption or malfunctions, has ordered random testing and other extra measures to guarantee accuracy on March 2.

Counties have claimed that Shelley is overstepping his authority and "misleading the public" about the machines' vulnerability. They say his plan will cost too much, although Shelley has told county officials the state will reimburse them for the pre-election costs.

But Tuesday's court filing alleges that even Shelley's directive to counties is inadequate to defend the election from possible manipulation.

"Well-known, gaping security holes will remain even if all of his orders for additional security steps are followed," argued Berkeley attorney Lowell Finley.

In the lawsuit against Diebold, Shelley and 18 county registrars of voters, Finley alleged that the firm's systems "pose a grave threat to the security and integrity" of this year's March and November elections. The lawsuit cites reports by security experts and analysts calling the Diebold systems "vulnerable to vote tampering both by company insiders and outside computer hackers."

Finley said that after the March 2 election he will seek even more stringent security s "or in the alternative, prohibit the use of Diebold voting systems in California."

Diebold has consistently maintained that its voting systems are effective and safe and have accused critics of a "multitude of false conclusions."

Counties named in the lawsuit as using Diebold equipment in elections this year include Kern, San Diego, San Joaquin, Solano, Alameda, Plumas, Fresno, Humboldt, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Siskiyou, Trinity, Tulare and Los Angeles.

ON THE NET

Read the lawsuit at http://www.blackboxvoting.org/dieboldlawsuit.pdf