Dade leader wants voting overhaul

BY CHARLES RABIN in the Miami Herald  04 August 2004

crabin@herald.com

Miami-Dade Commission Chairwoman Barbara Carey-Shuler sent a strongly worded message to County Manager George Burgess this week, calling the county's election department ''the laughingstock of the nation,'' and telling him to address problems by Aug. 16 15 days before the primary election.

''At this point, with less than 30 days before the 2004 primary, I find it unacceptable that our ability to conduct a proper election is being questioned locally and nationwide,'' Carey-Shuler wrote.

She listed four steps she wants taken by Aug. 16:

• New procedures to prevent loss or misplacement of data.

• An analysis of the audit reports from the touch-screen machines.

• A plan to inform voters of their right to vote absentee or use a provisional ballot, which must later be verified by the canvassing board.

• A report on the feasibility of conducting ''parallel testing'' on election day that verifies whether votes that are cast are counted.

''In addition, I am calling for a complete and independent assessment of our electoral process to be conducted immediately by the Audit and Management Department and the Office of Inspector General,'' Carey-Shuler said.

`DETAILED RESPONSE'

Burgess was out of town on vacation Tuesday. Assistant County Manager Pete Hernandez, in charge in his absence, said, ``We'll be preparing a very detailed response, probably before the 16th.''

Without going into specifics, Hernandez said Election Supervisor Constance Kaplan has asked for some additional help and will get whatever she requires.

''I told [Kaplan] yesterday, we have 30,000 plus employees and a lot of resources if she needs it,'' he said.

In a telephone interview with The Herald, Carey-Shuler was critical of Kaplan's handling of the problems, calling the election chief's answers during a commission meeting last week ``kind of weak.''

Carey-Shuler said she has since spoken with Kaplan and informed her that ``the whole world is going to be looking at us.''

'I said, Are you ready for the kind of scrutiny and media attention that you're going to be under?' '' Carey-Shuler said.

Said Kaplan: ``I have to be honest, I didn't think I'd have to answer for things that happened two years ago. Certainly every time a new issue is raised, we're trying to address it.''

UNDER THE GUN

The county's election department has been under the gun since it spent $24 million on Electronic Systems & Software's iVotronic voting machines not long after the disputed 2000 presidential election.

The machines' first major test came in the September 2002 primary, when mechanical glitches and lack of poll worker training created serious problems. County police were called in to help run the general election in November of that year.

In 2003, Kaplan was hired from Chicago, where she had been serving as the election department's second in charge.

In May, a flaw was discovered in the machine's audit system. The state certified new ES&S software to fix the problem last month. But three weeks later, Miami-Dade elections officials said they had lost most of the data files from the 2002 elections in two 2003 computer crashes.

Then late last week, Kaplan announced the audits had been found on a computer.

PARALLEL TESTING

Worried voting rights advocates have been calling for months for parallel testing, which calls for an independent tester to choose a random machine, then ask a voter if he or she wishes to volunteer and test the machine.

''If it's tested in a lab, the fear is the machine is already cleaned up,'' said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, who chairs Miami-Dade's Election Reform Coalition.

But Kaplan said it's unlikely to happen because she's concerned of the perception it would create.

''I'd have people talking about how they were allowed to vote twice, about merging data,'' she said.

``Certainly there are other ways parallel testing may be done. But the department is in very good shape. Our logistics are in place. Unfortunately we can't seem to get that issue out. ''

Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas said Tuesday he would meet with Kaplan and Burgess' staff today to study the feasibility of using optical scanning equipment during the November election, if necessary.

''The mayor shares the concerns, but is confident the election department is doing everything possible to ensure effective and efficient elections this fall,'' said his chief of staff Javier Soto.

Inspector General Christopher Mazzella said his office has already been eyeing the election process, and will check on how the machines have been prepared and tested.

''We'll see if the vote counting works and if there's an adequate audit trail in case there's a need to pursue a recount,'' he said.

Audit and Management Director Cathy Jackson could not be reached.

`COMPLETE REVIEW'

In another development, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson continued to ask state election officials for an independent audit or in his words a ''complete review of the voting process.'' The Melbourne Democrat last month called for an audit of voting systems in the wake of reports questioning touch-screen machines, but Secretary of State Glenda Hood refused his request.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Hood, Nelson cited Florida law and said she has a responsibility to make sure the systems are working correctly.