County awaits word on e-voting
Former secretary of state revoked San Joaquins machines for failing to be federally certified

By Les Mahler    Tri-Valley Herald   14 April 2005  

STOCKTON ? San Joaquin County election officials could know by next week if they can use their touch-screen voting machines again.

Thats when a state panel is expected to make a recommendation as to whether the countys Diebold, Inc., machines are up to par, said Michael Wagaman, election analyst for the Secretary of States office.

Were supposed to know by tomorrow or the next day, county Registrar of Voters Deborah Hench said.

I havent heard anything that would stop it from being federally certified.

Although San Joaquin County had no major problems with its touch-screen voting during the March 2004 primary, former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified the countys Diebold touch-screen voting machines for failing to be federally certified.

That   forced the county to use paper ballots for the presidential election, with Diebold picking up the printing costs.

A federal certification is a number given by the National Association of State Election Directors, Hench said and Diebold officials have been working to obtain certification, she noted.

But Wagaman said portions of the Diebold machines already have been federally certified. Even then, he said there is no state law that requires voting machines to have a federal number.

Besides the federal number, the new machines also will have a verifiable voter paper trail, Wagaman said.

The paper trail was another of Shelleys requirements for all state voting machines. The paper trails will be used if theres a recount or questions about votes, Wagaman said.

San   Joaquin County, like mostother counties in the state, went to electronic voting when the state and federal government set up funds to change voting procedures in order to avoid problems like those encountered in the 2000 Florida presidential elections.

Supervisor Victor Mow said use of the touch-screen voting machine would allow the county to "utilize the system we paid millions   of dollars for."

"Hopefully, this will be efficient and a lot quicker than the paper ballots," he said.