Forum fuels e-voting fears

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer North County Times  21 September 2004

MURRIETA When Riverside County abandoned paper ballots in favor of electronic ones in 2000, Bob Newhard was ecstatic.

The retired librarian from Murrieta who has macular degeneration said Monday he found it easier to read the large print and press the then-new electronic touch-screens to cast his vote than to find and fill in the tiny circle next to his preferred candidate on the old paper ballots.

Now, he said, he's returning to paper. Too many doubts have cropped up in his mind about the integrity of electronic voting because of the recent controversy about the recount of a Riverside County supervisorial race and the logistical glitches that occurred with the startup of new touch-screen systems in other counties in March.

"The bottom line is, the public no longer has control over the counting," Newhard said.

Newhard was among more than 30 area residents who turned out Monday for a community forum on electronic voting sponsored by Democracy for America-Temecula Valley and held at the Temple of Congregation B'nai Chaim in Murrieta. The program was presented by a three-member panel composed of Jeremiah Akin, a Riverside computer programmer; Jim March, a Sacramento lobbyist; and Lisa DiRitis, a local member of Democracy for America-Temecula Valley.

Armed with laptop computers and an overhead screen, March and Akin made the case that it is relatively easy to hack into the software used by Riverside and several other counties and to tamper with vote totals recorded by touch-screen machines.

There was no one from the Riverside County registrar of voters to rebut the arguments being made. Registrar officials turned down an offer to speak at the forum, and DiRitis said her later attempts to contact someone from the county to learn their side went unanswered.

"Sadly, I got no response after six phone calls and three e-mails," DiRitis said.

The panelists urged attendees to vote by paper ballot either by requesting an absentee ballot ahead of time or by filling out an optional paper ballot at a precinct on election day. In addition to having the option of voting on electronic machines as they have for the last four years, Riverside County residents may choose to vote on traditional paper ballots this fall, as a result of an order from California's secretary of state.

Panelists also urged people to personally turn in paper ballots at a precinct on election day or at the registrar of voters office rather than to rely on mail. They suggested that people should not trust the mail or the electronic machines, as long as there is no voter-verifiable paper trail. Such a trail in the form of a printout of one's vote that a voter could view behind a window will be mandatory in California in 2006.

Newhard said he is more than willing to heed their advice.

"There is literally no way to recount," he said. "If there was something to compare the data, that would be different."

Newhard said it will be difficult to locate the little circles on the paper ballots and fill them in. But, he said he plans to order an absentee ballot in advance and have his wife, Eleanor, help him fill out his ballot.

"She can't do that at the booth," Newhard said.

Riverside was the first large county in the nation to go to touch-screen voting. Buying 4,250 of the machines for $14 million, the county has held 29 elections with the machines.

Despite Riverside County residents' familiarity with touch-screens, they are a new commodity in other areas. Reports of logistical problems in counties such as San Diego in March, coupled with growing fears nationwide about the vulnerability of systems to hacking, have fueled efforts to tighten rules for the use of touch-screens.

Riverside County hashed out an agreement with the secretary of state that requires the county to make available 125,000 paper ballots a quarter of the anticipated half-million voters in the November election.