Voting-software test begins

BY CHARLES RABIN

crabin@herald.com

State elections officials in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday began testing new electronic voting machine software designed to correct a glitch in the equipment's ability to audit election results.

They expect to know by Thursday if the software is ready to be certified by the state in time for the Aug. 31 primary election.

Paul Craft, in charge of certifying voting systems for Florida, said if the tests work out, he'll fly back to Tallahassee to give the findings to Secretary of State Glenda Hood.

Craft said the revised software could be certified for Miami-Dade, Broward and eight other counties that use the Electronic Systems & Software, or ES&S, equipment within a week.

''There's still enough time,'' he said. ``The county said they can install it in about a week.''

Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Constance Kaplan who earlier said the problem could not be corrected in time for the August election said her office is already working six-day weeks and will do ''everything it takes'' to fix it.

Kaplan said ES&S told her each of the county's 7,200 machines could be corrected with a 20-minute procedure.

If for some reason the software is not ready for the August election, Kaplan said it should be in place by the November presidential contest. If the new software is not certified in time for the Aug. 31 vote, the county has figured out a way around the problem by attaching a laptop to download the information.

''We should know by the week's end,'' Kaplan said.

A local watchdog group says it's still skeptical. Lida Rodriguez-Taseff of the Miami-Dade Voting Reform Coalition said the state can certify the system, but until it's used during a real election, she won't trust it.

''They blessed the system to turn it on on the morning of the vote [in 2002], and it didn't work. They blessed this audit system, and it didn't work,'' said Rodriguez-Taseff. ``Just because the state blesses it doesn't mean it will work.''

FLAW IN SYSTEM

The audit-system flaw, discovered by a Miami-Dade worker a year ago but only made public in May, occurs when the batteries on the iVotronic voting machine begin to wear down. The system then sometimes randomly scrambles the machines' serial numbers, making it impossible to tell where votes came from.

It does not affect the main system, only the audit system that would be used if there were a close election.

An election watchdog group says it will remain concerned by the problem even if the state certifies the revised software.

The Herald learned three weeks ago that ES&S and Lee County officials had been investigating the same problem since 2002, but had not notified the state.

''We had known it was an issue in a different city,'' said ES&S Vice President Ken Carbullido. ``But we had not connected the two. We had not drawn the conclusion it would affect Miami at all.''

STATE WASN'T AWARE

The state certified Miami-Dade's system unaware the flaw existed.

The delay in reporting the problem angers Craft.

''I expect the vendor, when they find a problem, to come forth to us,'' Craft said. ``I'd like to see a change in the process, but that would take a change in the statute.''

Carbullido said his company would absorb the cost of replacing the software, but wouldn't commit to paying for extra workers if they are necessary for the Aug. 31 election or for the hours the workers spend updating the machines.

Kaplan doesn't yet know what the cost would be.

''I have a letter out to the president of ES&S where we'll be talking about those issues,'' she said.

Miami-Dade spent $25 million on the electronic voting system after the state said it had to find an alternative to the flawed punch-card system.

In a related development, the ACLU of Florida said Tuesday that it will file suit in Leon County Circuit Court today challenging the state rule that prohibits use of the audit in vote recounts. The state now only allows use in recounts of computer discs called PEB's or Personal Electronic Ballots.