Alameda County vote devices tested

By Lisa Vorderbrueggen

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Alameda County's touch-screen voting machines performed flawlessly during recent security tests, which should clear the path for their use in November, says county election chief Brad Clark.

Alameda is among several California counties with electronic voting equipment that Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified April 30 due to security concerns.

Critics nationwide worry that electronic voting is too vulnerable to hackers and have demanded paper records of the votes.

Shelley has ordered all voting equipment to provide a paper record by 2006.

But in the meantime, he allowed counties to use the machines until the deadline if the vendors can demonstrate compliance with 23 security requirements.

Alameda opted to upgrade its Diebold Accuvote system, while other counties took the state to court in a thus-far unsuccessful challenge to Shelley's ruling.

The Accuvote allows citizens to vote with a touch of the finger on a computer screen instead of pen on paper.

It stores the votes on data cards similar to those used in digital cameras, and workers upload the results onto the election division's main computer.

While Clark says he is pleased that the state appears likely to endorse Accuvote in time for the general election, it's only a short reprieve.

Shelley has ordered all counties that use electronic voting machines to provide paper back-up records by 2006. No such machine has yet obtained state certification, Clark said.

"We're not sure what we're going do," Clark said. "We may have to buy new equipment or we may be able to modify what we have. We'll have to wait and see what the vendors come up with."

Contra Costa County does not use voting machines that store votes electronically.

Its residents use a pen or pencil to fill in rectangles on a ballot card, which the county scans into a computer.

But the county faces a 2006 deadline to provide equipment in every precinct that allows blind, deaf and other physically impaired citizens to vote confidentially and unassisted.

Touch-screen electronic voting systems, such as those in Alameda County, offer these features. But they won't be permitted unless they provide a paper trail.

"We're working on a solution right now," said Contra Costa elections chief Steve Weir. "We hope to have a final plan soon."