State: Leon backup voting system jeopardizes federal compliance
JENNIFER KAY
Associated Press

The state has requested a meeting with Leon County officials regarding contingency plans for helping disabled people vote without assistance in the event of a special election, saying the county puts Florida at risk for a federal lawsuit over noncompliance.

Secretary of State Sue Cobb sent letters Thursday to Bill Proctor, chairman of the county's board of commissioners, and Ion Sancho, the county's supervisor of elections, requesting a meeting Monday to discuss the county's progress in securing an accessible system.

The backup plan that Sancho proposed would require borrowing equipment from Polk County if a vacancy occurred this year and required a special election.

Leon County Attorney Herb Thiele notified Cobb's office this week that Sancho's plan was invalid because Polk County's software licensing agreement with industry giant Diebold prohibits lending Polk's upgraded equipment.

"It is a matter of grave concern to us that the contingency plan may not be viable. In light of this latest disclosure, and the protracted efforts and persistent difficulties the Supervisor of Elections has had in procuring an accessible voting system, it is apparent that the County's current course of action has not been sufficient or effective in resolving this matter," Cobb wrote in her letter to Proctor. Her letter to Sancho is similarly worded.

Leon County, which includes Tallahassee, was also the only one of Florida's 67 counties that did not upgrade it's voting system's touchscreen compatibility, and so could not use Polk County's equipment, Department of State spokeswoman Jenny Nash said.

The federal Help America Vote Act requires at least one voting machine in each precinct to be accessible to disabled voters in any federal election. Leon County missed a Jan. 1 deadline for complying with the law and had to return more than $500,000 in federal funding.

All counties must have disabled-accessible voting machines by May 1, or the U.S. Justice Department could sue Florida for noncompliance, Nash said.

"By Leon County not being compliant and not having the systems or contracts to upgrade the systems in place, it puts the entire state in jeopardy," Nash said.

Sancho said he would attend the meeting, but contends the contingency plans' problems are moot because the county will be in compliance with the law once a Kentucky company certifies its voting equipment with the state.

"We don't believe there will be any need for a contingency plan of this nature," he said.

A Louisville, Ky.-based company, IVS, has offered to provide the county with HAVA-compliant, vote-by-phone machines that leave a verifiable paper trail, Sancho said.

Thiele said the county is concerned that the IVS equipment could be too expensive or fail to meet the state's certifications by May 1.

The U.S Justice Department has "made it very clear if we don't have the materials and the equipment in hand in less than 90 days, they are going to sue us, and the U.S. Marshals is going to conduct our elections, and the Leon Board of County Commissioners wants to do whatever it can to make sure that doesn't happen," Thiele said.

Leon County has used equipment made by Diebold, but the county and the company disagreed over whether Diebold software could be used with other equipment. Sancho also conducted a test last year where elections office workers "hacked" into a Diebold voting system in an effort to show that it could be made to produce false results.

Sancho then tried to buy touchscreen machines for handicapped voters from another major manufacturer, but that company, Elections Systems and Software, refused to fill his order.