Bysiewicz Assures Public Influence In Voting Machine Selection

By John Voket?????? Newtown Bee?? 26 May 2005

This is the next installment in a series about how Newtown and the state are preparing to accommodate directives of the Federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and issues related to incorporating electronic voting terminals at Connecticut polls by the next Election Day.

While she is not ready to toss out the current slate of proposals from companies vying to supply Connecticut with millions of dollars in electronic voting equipment, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz assured Newtown residents that any firm decision about acquiring new technology will be influenced by those who will be using it.

Responding to requests for comment on the issue, the secretary of the state said she wants to ensure machines that are authorized for local installation provide unprecedented accessibility, as well as redundant systems to protect the security and integrity of votes, once they are cast. Ms Bysiewicz provided a written statement, and an opinion column (see page A-2), earlier this week in response to earlier reports and an editorial in The Bee calling on her office to carefully consider the type of terminal she will ultimately endorse for statewide use.

Local elections officials in the town clerk's office and Newtown's Registrars of Voters have expressed concerns about future cost, maintenance, storage, and training, and are waiting some definitive information from Ms Bysiewicz's office on how they should proceed as the next local election quickly approaches.

Although the secretary of the state seems extremely motivated to keep Connecticut free of Election Day debacles that have plagued other states during recent local, state, and national elections, her office has not issued any relevant information to municipal officials since widespread reports that a number of machines were being considered.

"While Connecticut, thankfully, has not experienced the voting problems seen in Florida and Ohio, we must our voting equipment to comply with HAVA," Ms Bysiewicz said in her statement Tuesday. "HAVA is the most important federal civil rights legislation passed since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It will not only bring thousands of new voters into the process - as persons with disabilities will be enabled to vote privately and independently - but also provide substantial protections against voter fraud."

Ms Bysiewicz said that at this point in her office's evaluation process, her staff has gone above and beyond HAVA's fraud protection requirements to ensure voter confidence in the voting machine the state will eventually choose to meet this first round of federal compliance.

"All vendors must be able to fit their machines with voter-verified paper receipts, if the bill requiring VVPR currently before the General Assembly passes and is signed into law," she said, referring to SB55, an act promoting voting system accuracy through voter-verified paper records. "Vendors are also required to equip their machines with three additional protective devices."

The secretary of the state said her staff is proceeding with the evaluation process in a cautious, deliberative manner and will continue to do so in order to ensure that Connecticut gets the best possible voting equipment currently available and certified.

"My office is in the process of reviewing the eight responses submitted to our RFP [request for proposals] seeking a vendor to supply new HAVA-compliant voting machines," she said. "In September, we anticipate taking each of the qualifying machines on the road to each congressional district for both the public and local election officials to try."

Ms Bysiewicz reassured voters that the input her office receives on each of the machines would be factored into the decision when the final decision is made to acquire electronic machines for each voting district across the state.

"This will be the first time in Connecticut's state contracting history that public input is factored into the awarding of a contract," said Ms Bysiewicz.

Representatives of True VoteCT, a Connecticut grassroots watchdog group, came to Newtown recently to continue a process of educating state voters about a situation they fear could very well set Connecticut up to be the next Florida or Ohio when it comes to Election Day disasters. True VoteCT volunteers and its co-founder have become increasingly concerned in light of electronic system shortcomings that have plagued other states.

True VoteCT's co-founder, Michael J. Fischer, a Yale computer science professor, used the Newtown gathering as an opportunity to call for Ms Bysiewicz to rescind the RFP to the companies competing to supply Connecticut cities and towns with millions of dollars worth of electronic voting stations.

"If Connecticut and Ms Bysiewicz continue with a plan to install one direct recording electronic machine in each polling place by the 2006 general elections, the state could fall victim to the same fate that has been eroding voter confidence since the 2000 Presidential election debacle in Florida," Mr Fischer told the local audience.

The incidents of possible miscounted votes in that election led to the eventual passage of the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which places various requirements on states for the conduct of federal elections, Mr Fischer explained. He justified his call to renew the vendor review process based on his assessment of new technologies and competitors that have entered the electronic machine fray since the original RFP process was initiated earlier this year.

"These newcomers to the market have not only integrated paper verification technology which will conform to the proposed SB55, they have developed stations that are more secure, accessible, and less costly," Mr Fischer said in a subsequent interview.

Newtown Town Clerk Cynthia Simon and Registrars of Voters Karen Aurelia and LeReine Frampton are balancing concerns about the long-term costs of electronic voting technology with the challenge of bringing election workers, volunteers, and voters up to speed on the equipment. And they each noted that the clock is ticking away toward November 2.

"We've been told to expect one for disabled access at each of our polling places this November," Ms Frampton said.