E-Vote Fight Has Plenty of Human Drama Too
By Stuart Pfeifer, Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO — By taking a tough stance on questions about electronic voting, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has gained a national profile — and made some enemies among local election officials along the way.
Shelley, who halted electronic voting in California in April and ordered counties to comply with a long list of improvements, said in an interview Monday that he was disappointed by the personal nature of some of the criticism. But some county registrars, who contend he's jeopardizing their ability to run a smooth and accurate election in November, say Shelley deserves the blame.
"California was considered a good example of cooperation between local elections officials and the secretary of state up until January 2003," when Shelley took office, said John Tuteur, registrar of voters in Napa County. "The deterioration of the relationship of the local election community and the secretary of state's office is solely due to the actions and even personality of the secretary of state."
On the most public level, Shelley is at odds with many local election officials over his decision to ban electronic voting systems in four counties and require extensive modifications in 10 others, a decision that many said would force them to return to paper ballots for the November election.
Four of the 14 counties affected — Riverside, Kern, Plumas and San Bernardino — responded by filing a federal lawsuit. A hearing on that suit is set for July 2 in Los Angeles....
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shelley8jun08,1,7276880.story?coll=la-home-local