Board seeks to force return of voting machine
Election judge says he allowed CBS to test equipment in wake of Mikulski snag 
 
 By Stephen Manning
The Associated Press
Originally published September 14, 2004, 3:04 PM EDT
ROCKVILLE Montgomery County's election board sought a court order today to force a local election judge to return an electronic voting machine that he kept for testing after a problem arose during a weekend demonstration with U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

The county filed for a temporary restraining order in circuit court, claiming Stan Boyd refused requests to return the machine and had no right to test the equipment.

Boyd said he was contacted Monday by CBS's 60 Minutes show after news reports about difficulties that arose when Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, tested the machine as Boyd demonstrated its use at a Takoma Park festival. Boyd said he allowed an independent tester to review the machine today on behalf of the network.

An attorney for the county said the machine Boyd checked out Friday was only for demonstration purposes and does not have d software that the AccuVote TS touch-screen machines will use in the November general election. Any problems the testing might uncover could be misleading, said Kevin Karpinsky, an attorney for the county board.

"What will get lost in the message is that this is merely a demonstration unit," he said in a hearing. "This could lead to a lack of voter confidence in the system itself."

Boyd, a 63-year-old retired high school teacher from White Oak, said he wasn't trying to hold the machine hostage. He said his purpose was to search out any problems with the voting system that Maryland residents will use in the upcoming election.

"The whole purpose is to find out what things can be fixed and before the elections so they are trustworthy," he said after the hearing.

Judge D. Warren Donohue said he planned to rule this afternoon on the temporary restraining order.

Maryland has invested $55 million to implement electronic voting statewide this year, one of several states and local jurisdictions to use the touch-screen machines. State election officials reported few problems during the March primary with the machines manufactured by Diebold Inc.

But some independent tests have suggested the systems could be vulnerable to hacking, computer failures or human error. Many opponents of electronic voting want the machines to print a paper record of every ballot that could be used in a recount or to verify a voter's ions.

A Maryland group, TrueVoteMd.org, filed suit earlier this year, seeking to force the state to implement additional security measures and to allow voters to use a paper ballot. A judge ruled against the group Sept. 1, and the Maryland Court of Appeals upheld that ruling today.

Boyd, who took part in a TrueVoteMd.org rally in July, according to a news release from the group, checked the machine out Friday and said an elections official told him he could keep it through Thursday. Boyd intended to demonstrate it to voters at different events.

Mikulski tried the machine Sunday during a visit to the Takoma Park festival. According to an aide, she mistakenly cast a vote on a mock ballot when her hand brushed against the screen. It reportedly took her several attempts to correct the mistake.

Boyd said the error might be because the screen was too sensitive and that the instructions on how voters should use the equipment were misleading.

After news reports Monday of Mikulski's problem, Boyd said county elections officials contacted him and he agreed to return the machine that day. But after CBS asked him if it could test the machine, he told the county he planned to keep the machine until Thursday, as originally planned.

County officials said they then contacted Boyd at least nine times by phone in an effort to get him to return the machine; Boyd said they even showed up at his house.

Karpinsky said Boyd was evasive, first telling elections officials that he had to go to Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia and later to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. He eventually stopped taking calls, Karpinsky said.

The machine ended up at the Takoma Park home of Linda Schade, head of TrueVoteMd.org, where testing began this morning. Schade said she didn't know what specific tests were being done.

Meanwhile, the county elections board tried to halt the testing. Karpinsky filed the temporary restraining order this morning, and members of the local board and the state board of elections said the machine should be returned. Schade said she would give up the machine if ordered to.