ACLU sues state over closed meetings of voting examiners

By Natalie Gott

The Associated Press? 11 August 2004
AUSTIN - The American Civil Liberties Union sued state officials Wednesday in an attempt to force Texas' voting system examiners to hold their meetings in public.

The examiners study voting technology, such as electronic voting machines, and recommend to the secretary of state which ones should be certified for use in Texas.

The ACLU said that in the past few years the secretary of state routinely adopted the examiners' recommendations but rejected attempts by members of the public to observe the meetings, claiming the group is not subject to the state's open meeting law.

"Texans deserve secure, reliable voting machines and they deserve to see that the officials charged with certifying those machines are conducting a rigorous evaluation to ensure the systems are secure and effective," said Adina Levin of the Texas ACLU. "All aspects of the voting process in a democracy should be open and transparent, to give citizens confidence in their vote."

The defendants named in the lawsuit are Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor, Attorney General Greg Abbott and five of six examiners. The examiner omitted from the lawsuit was not present at a meeting the ACLU was using as evidence in the case, Levin said. A Texas voter, Jon Lebkowsky of Austin, is named as a plaintiff in the case along with the ACLU.

Neither Connor's nor Abbott's office would discuss the case. Abbott spokesman Tom Kelley said the office had not yet been served with the lawsuit.

Connor addressed the issue, however, in an April memorandum.

"Quite simply, the certification examinations performed by the team of examiners are not conducted as a 'governmental body' for the purposes of the Open Meetings Act, and have not been treated as such for the last 18 years in which such examinations have taken place," he wrote.

To formalize the group would require changes by the Legislature, Connor said.

The ACLU lawsuit was filed in Travis County District Court and seeks a court ruling to require the meetings to be held in public before the examiners meet in August.

Levin said records of the meetings are available after the meetings, but because the meetings are closed to the public, there is not as much public input.

In the April memo, Connor said his office was discussing whether to add a 15-day comment period for the public following the examiners' reviews but before the secretary of state certifies the voting systems.