Riverside County wins certification for electronic voting in November

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Riverside County won certification for electronic voting in the Nov. 2 election Friday, becoming the state's seventh county where voters will be allowed to use touch-screen machines.

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certified the county's computer voting machines after officials agreed to comply with 23 conditions, including making paper ballots available to voters who request them. The county also agreed to share its voting software with independent analysts to verify its security.

The county agreed with Shelley two weeks after a federal judge in Los Angeles rejected its legal challenge to Shelley's authority. In April, Shelley decertified electronic voting in California until counties met his conditions to prevent a repeat of computer glitches that disrupted some March primary elections.

Seven of 10 counties have now agreed to the conditions, including Riverside, Orange, Merced, Napa, Santa Clara, Shasta and Tehama. San Bernardino County officials said this week they have agreed to the conditions, but Shelley spokeswoman Carol Dahmen said Friday the state has not received a signed agreement.

State talks also continue with Alameda and Plumas counties.

Voters in San Joaquin, San Diego, Kern and Solano counties will not use their electronic voting machines in November. Shelley's April order decertified the machines, contending that they lacked federal approval when used in the March election.