Florida County in Legal Spat Over Purchase of E-voting Machines

Vote leaves county without touch-screen systems; handicap-rights group files suit

By Marc L. Songini

July 11, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - The refusal to purchase specialized voting machines that comply with handicap-access laws has put a Florida county in the cross hairs of the state's attorney general and handicap-rights groups.
On June 29, the Volusia County Council voted 4-3 against authorizing the purchase of 210 touch-screen systems from Diebold Election Systems. According to Florida state law, all counties were obliged to have at least one state-certified touch-screen machine in place by July 1. The Diebold systems meet the handicap-access requirement because they also house devices that enable blind voters to receive verbal prompts to help them vote.
The council declined to purchase the machines because they don't generate a paper receipt. The majority of the council is joined by critics who maintain that the touch-screen systems can be rigged for political advantage .
The National Federation of the Blind and others filed suit against the county last week in Orlando Federal District Court.
"This does put Volusia County in a very difficult position," said a county government spokesman. The four-person majority was "not comfortable with the Diebold system, and now we've been sued, and we'll defend that action," the spokesman said.
He said the council would prefer to buy a hybrid optical-scan system called AutoMark, which is made by Vogue Election Systems LLC in Glen Ellyn, Ill. AutoMark has an audio component to enable the blind to vote, but the system hasn't been certified by Florida.
None of the four council members who voted down the purchase responded to a request for comment.


The Diebold touch-screen systems can be rigged for political advantage, critics such as the Volusia County Council say.

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist issued a letter dated June 30 to council Chairman Frank Bruno, stating that the refusal could subject the county to liability for a civil rights violation.
A Vote for Diebold
Ann McFall, the county supervisor of elections, is urging the purchase of the Diebold machines. She said she directed her attorney to ask a federal judge in Orlando to either force the county to buy them or allow the next election, which is scheduled for Oct. 11, to take place without them.
A spokesman for McKinney, Texas-based Diebold said the touch-screen machines have been used for 20 years and are completely reliable. In addition, the Diebold AccuVote-TS and TSX machines provide an internal paper receipt and can generate a hard copy of every vote cast via printer, he said.
Volusia County isn't alone in refusing to comply with the July 1 deadline. By emphasizing just touch-screentechnology, the state has taken a "heavy-handed approach" to enforcing handicap voting accessibility, said Ion Sancho, supervisor of elections in Leon County, which uses optical scan devices. He wants the paper trail and is holding out for certification of the AutoMark systems. "Voters demand that we can account for every vote 100% accurately," Sancho said. "And my goal is to make sure the votes are counted as intended."

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

POLL RESULTS

Leading IT Pros Weigh In on Top IT Issues

Accelerate your knowledge of the IT world you inhabit by viewing the results of a series of polls taken by your IT peers. These polls of 100+ IT professionals each are available for full viewing. They cover key topics such as virtualization, processor performance, green IT, cloud computing and many others. Be a part of the buzz.

WHITE PAPER

For Best Results, Think Beyond the Box

Technology is complex. Keeping it running productively shouldn't be. To that end, you want to minimize the number of solutions needed in-house to simplify operations, maintenance, and support. Kodak offers a best-practices model. One company provides support for both scanner and software, for fast problem resolution without vendor finger-pointing. Download now!

WHITE PAPER

Accelerating the Path to Demand Intelligence with a Demand Signal Repository

Utilizing demand intelligence improves the precision of pricing, product assortments, channel/store placement, and promotion, which are all essential for sustainable revenue management performance. Learn more, download this free whitepaper today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Accelerate SSL Encrypted Applications
The amount of SSL traffic is growing in the enterprise. Because it is encrypted, it cannot be properly controlled and accelerated. Blue Coat...

Modernizing the IT Infrastructure
(Source: Oracle) There is a lot of legacy in many government IT systems today - legacy hardware, legacy software platforms, and legacy skills...

ESG Lab Field Audit
Many companies have successfully implemented Riverbed WAN optimization solutions within their Cisco networks. This ESG Lab Field Audit document explores the success that...

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

Shape Your Apps Strategy to Reflect New SaaS Licensing and Pricing Trends
Why are smart companies choosing software-as-a-service? Find out in the complimentary Forrester Research report...

The Value of Real SaaS at Workday
Cost savings, speed to value, and innovation brought to the enterprise by Workday's software-as-a-service solutions for HR and Payroll....

Natural User Interface for Enterprise Applications
Learn how a revolutionary user interface can make a complex enterprise application so intuitive even casual users can jump right in....

SaaS at Flextronics, Inc.
Dave Smoley, CIO of Flextronics, discusses the real value of software-as-a-service and why he chose Workday for his HR solution....

A Truly Global HCM System
Learn about a system built with advanced object-oriented technology that support multi-national requirements and costs less to implement, maintain and upgrade....

Why Compliance Pays
This OnDemand webcast explores the relationship that firms with best compliance records have higher revenue, greater customer retention, lower financial losses from data...

All White Papers | All Webcasts