Johnson County: Election Worker Fired

By Rick Dawson
I-Team 8

Election officials in Johnson County are now demanding answers from a voting machine company at the heart of a recent I-Team investigation.

I-Team 8 has been asking "Will Your Vote Count?" Now with the primary just two months away, we’ve uncovered a new wrinkle as a respected election worker is abruptly dismissed.

Doug Orange had his contract with Election Systems and Software terminated last week.  As the ES&S  Project manager, Orange helped the county set up new touch-screen voting systems.  County clerk Jill Jackson was very happy with his work.  

So why was Orange fired? He says the company claimed insubordination, but he says he was just doing the right thing. “I was asked by Wil Wesley, as my immediate supervisor, to implement a procedure in Johnson County that I personally felt…was attacking the integrity of the future election and the security of the future elections in Johnson County. Not to mention that I felt those procedures were illegal,” said Orange.

Bound by a non-disclosure statement, Orange won't elaborate further. But county election officials already had concerns about unapproved and illegal ES&S software inadvertently used in the last election.

“We are concerned that we have the election conducted in a first class way. And we've had some changes with ES&S that have brought some concern for the board,” said J. Bryan Nichol, Johnson County Election Board.

In a statement this afternoon, ES&S said it couldn't discuss personnel issues but says it's "confident that the county and election administrators will enjoy a seamless transition and continued election support services to help ensure a successful election."

“I was replaced as project manager eight weeks before a primary election with a new clerk who's just been elected to office, with a new voting system that is under fire,” said Orange, who calls the task impossible. He added, "The unfortunate result of this is that I feel as though Johnson County and Johnson County's future elections are at risk."

Nicol says despite the changeover, he expects Johnson County's primary will run smoothly. I-Team 8 tried to contact the supervisor who terminated Doug Orange to ask him about these issues. We were referred to the same spokesperson who gave us the earlier statement. The spokesperson replied via email, "Because your question relates to a confidential personnel issue we are unable to discuss specifics." She also added: "We carry out our mission with the highest degree of integrity and professionalism. For anyone to assert otherwise is unfortunate."