Election vendor under fire
Repeated mixups raise issues of trust, reliability

By Andy Gammill
andy.gammill@indystar.com
March 4, 2004
 
Members of the Johnson County Election Board this week blasted the vendor they hired to provide voting equipment to the county, saying poor customer service has complicated this year's election.

Election Systems & Software provided illegal software for last year's election, lied to the board about a temporary fix and fired a helpful project manager, said Clerk of the Courts Jill Jackson.

"I'm not happy," she said.

The company is working with the county to resolve the issues, said Becky Vollmer, a spokeswoman for ES&S. It has set in place more stringent internal controls to make sure equipment is legal before an election, she said.

Losing project manager Doug Orange just eight weeks before the primary would make for less-smooth balloting, Jackson said.

Besides his responsibility for the machines, Orange assisted the county with delivering machines to polling sites and coordinating radio contact among election workers, Jackson said.

Vollmer confirmed the personnel change but would not say why, citing confidentiality. The company will provide qualified help throughout the entire process, she said.

In November 2003, the county used ES&S voting machines with illegal software on them, but the company has since reverted to an older version that has been OK'd by the state.

Company representative Will Wesley told the election board last month that the only difference between the versions would be how a voter uses the touch screen. It would look identical, he said.

After county officials reviewed the new display, they determined that's just not true, board President Jean Harmon said. She feels she can no longer trust Wesley, who is a key contact for the county, she said.

Vollmer said the company presented the changes that would come with the older version to the best of its ability.

"My understanding is that the information we shared with the county was and is accurate," she said. "ES&S shared what changes would be visible from the voter's perspective."

Other counties that use ES&S have said they're happy with the company's performance, but the state election commission has subpoenaed the company to appear next week to explain the illegal software it supplied in three counties.

"We used them last fall and had a flawless election," said Henry County Clerk of the Courts Patricia French. "My experience has been very good."

Some Marion County election officials also have expressed concern about the company, which holds an $11.1 million contract to provide optical-scan machines there.

Most criticism has focused on a vote-counting machine sold to Marion County before it was approved for use in Indiana. As a result, thousands of absentee ballots were counted by hand in November's municipal election.

Johnson County also bought the counters, which cannot be used for an official tally.

The state election commission will question ES&S about the improper software at its meeting Wednesday.

The Johnson County Election Board has asked company officials to speak to the board March 12.

Call Star reporter Andy Gammill at (317) 444-2706.