Voting equipment takes a test

ACLU still wants more to be done

By Nancy Cook Lauer Tallahassee Democrat   12 August 2004

Trying to reassure voters that all systems are "go" for the Aug.31 primaries, state and local officials began publicly testing election equipment in seven Florida counties Wednesday.

The federal Election Assistance Commission recommended this week that all election equipment be tested in a public setting. Florida law requires all machines to be tested but only 5 percent of paper-ballot systems and 2 percent of touch-screen machines to be tested publicly.

The state Division of Elections thinks the smaller percentages subject to public testing are sufficient, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Glenda Hood said.

"I encourage the public to attend the pre-election testing to gain a better understanding of the processes and procedures the supervisors of elections go through before each and every election to ensure a smooth and accurate election process," Hood said.

The public testing isn't likely to reassure critics of the touch-screen voting systems. The American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, have challenged the touch-screens in separate lawsuits. ACLU volunteers are attending the public testing sessions in as many counties as possible, said spokeswoman Courtney Strickland.

Critics' worries have been compounded by a Division of Elections study showing that voters are twice as likely to skip candidates on electronic ballots than on paper ballots and the fact that the machines failed to record known votes in two Miami-Dade area elections last year.

The ACLU, along with other civil-rights and voting-rights groups, is calling for the state to do more. They want what Strickland calls "battle testing" of touch-screen machines - randomly pulling machines out of polling places during an actual election and having an outside auditor test them for accuracy.

"What is clear is the state certification and testing has not caught all the errors, so we need to be cognizant of what other safeguards can be put in place," Strickland said. "What they're saying is 'Trust us.' What we're saying is 'Prove it.'"

The public testing addresses all aspects of an election, including machine set-up and installation, security and accuracy procedures, and audits of votes cast. But those audits are done after the election and are conducted by county canvassing boards made up of a county commissioner, judge and the elections supervisor.

Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, who will be conducting his tests today, said he lets members of the public the machines to be tested.

"It's a random test. That does not mean that all of the machines have not been tested," Sancho said. "This is to give anyone who shows up comfort that the machines work the way they're supposed to."