 Voters use the new equipment at Los Altos Sub-Acute and Rehabilitation Center during the general election last November. |
Members of the League of Women Voters are doing all they can to ensure the county’s new electronic voting machines are accurate, efficient and secure.
The Los Altos-Mountain View branch, one of seven branches countywide that will work with the Registrar of Voters, met last Thursday to establish goals for improving the performance of these Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines.
One major issue, according to Los Altos-Mountain View League President Jane Turnbull is the current lack of an identifiable trail when tracking votes.
“The first issue is a need for open-source software,” Turnbull said, noting that proprietary software has been an obstacle to achieving an identifiable trail. For instance, she referred to hidden software code, termed “Easter eggs,” that could change how votes are recorded.
Turnbull said the league wants random testing done on machines and more emphasis on security prior to election day. Members have even discussed machine repairmen having valid IDs as a requirement before handling the equipment. They also discussed having simulated runs of the machines prior to election day.
Members want valid certification of machines, currently done by the Secretary of State, but “we would like a nonpartisan group to be involved,” Turnbull said.
The league also would like to see a greater number of poll workers who could do a better job than last election of handling the thousands of provisional and absentee ballots that flooded the registrar this past election.
“There were a lot of mistakes with the registration rolls,” Turnbull observed. In addition, the lack of optical-scan machines and the time-consuming process of workers eyeballing signature comparisons slowed the processing of the 240,000 county absentee ballots this past November.
League members are concerned about disabled access and use of the new machines. “You can rig it up so it becomes an audio machine, but it does not work as well as it could,” Turnbull said.
Noting that the county’s new machines, manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems, will have verified paper trails, Turnbull said league members agreed the electronic account of a vote should be the first certifiable account unless there’s a recount. Manufacturers have to install verifiable trails in machines by 2006, at no additional cost to the county.
Turnbull said league branches will merge their consensus on electronic voting prior to their annual meetings in May, then work with the registrar.
The Los Altos-Mountain View branch will hold another consensus meeting Sunday on a study of local water resources.
The meeting is set for 3 p.m. at Foothills Congregational Church, 461 Orange Ave., Los Altos. Discussion will include water sources, the responsibilities of local suppliers and planning for water supply in the case of a natural disaster.
The local league holds its “league-athon” fund-raiser next Tuesday, at which members will be calling supporters seeking donations.
For more information, call 948-0936.
