Touch-screen electronic voting battle rages on
By GRETCHEN LOSI/Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO — Electronic voting machines must meet a state standard that establishes a paper audit trail by 2006, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's office announced Tuesday.

The standard, called Accessible Voter Verified Audit Trail, allows voters to see who they voted for through a printout displayed under glass or plastic. An official for Shelley's office said the paper trail is needed to guarantee the accuracy of electronic voting systems.

San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said the county will continue to pursue its lawsuit against Shelley's office despite Tuesday's action.

San Bernardino County, which this year started using electronic voting machines manufactured by Sequoia Systems, joined Riverside and Kern counties in a lawsuit challenging Shelley's decision in April to decertify the counties' electronic voting machines.

As of now, no electronic voting machines leave a paper audit trail.

"We have supported a paper trail since the beginning, and if there is one available for use, we would be happy to do this," Wert said. "But we don't, and never will, support an election where voters are told they can vote electronically or on paper."

Shelley's office in April released 23 conditions regarding the use of electronic voting machines. One of those measures stipulates that voters must have the option of paper voting, something county officials oppose because they believe it will be confusing.

The adoption of the AVVAT came the same week that Shelley's office also re-certified the Sequoia voting system for Santa Clara County. Even though San Bernardino County uses the same sytem, Secretary of State spokesman Doug Stone said San Bernardino won't be re-certified unless it meets the 23 measures that Shelley has established.

According to Stone, only three counties have met the measures: Orange, Merced and Santa Clara counties.

"They (the three counties) have agreed to the security measures and we have worked with their boards of supervisors to help them meet the measures," Stone said.

San Bernardino had been working closely with Shelley's office last month in hopes of regaining certification for its machines. It has not been successful.

"If we had met the 23 conditions, we still may not have been able to use the machines because he hadn't re-certified them yet," Wert said.

Though the state is now the first to establish requirements for the development and testing of paper audit trails, a spokesman for Shelley's office said there are currently no systems that have software ready to be placed in time for this year's elections.

The AVVAT will allow voters to see who they voted for electronically via an instant print-out displayed securely under glass or plastic. Voters will not be able to physically handle the copy of their vote, but if they see they voted wrong they will be able to cancel that vote and cast it again.

Shelley's office wants all electronic voting systems in California, regardless of when they were purchased, to leave a paper trail by July 1, 2006. However, the Legislature is now considering moving up the date to January 1, 2006.

Wert said the county wants electronic voting re-certified well before that, and will go to court to make it happen. The first hearing of the lawsuit is scheduled to begin on June 28, Wert said.

"Not only are we doing this for the rights of the disabled but it's also to challenge (Shelley's) contention that he can certify and re-certify and decertify county by county," Wert said. "If a voting system is certified for one county, it is supposed to be certified for all counties."