by county, and start tracking the "revolving door" employment, and other issues. I kicked over an excellent article, in a Google search for "Alameda Sequoia elections"--didn't find who I was looking for, but found this...
http://www.civilliberties.org/votestory.htm"Looking at Voting Machines
"By Ellen Komp
"On April 5, over objections from CLMP and others, the Humboldt county Board of Supervisors voted to enter negotiations with Diebold Election Systems, Inc. to purchase 110 touch-screen voting machines, one for each projected precinct, at a cost of approximately $3100 each. The move came upon recommendation from Humboldt clerk-recorder Carolyn Wilson-Crnich and elections manager Lindsay McWilliams in order for the county to comply with federal HAVA (Help Americans Vote Act) legislation, which requires a means by which disabled voters can vote in unassisted fashion by 2006.
"Williams expressed hope that the HAVA deadline would be pushed back, but said unless that happens the county needs to act to ensure compliance by next year. The plan would bring “minimal compliance” with HAVA at the lowest cost, Crnich told the board, by augmenting the county’s existing Diebold optical-scanning equipment with machines that will use the same voter tabulation software.
"The move came despite the fact the Diebold AccuVote TSx machines have not yet been approved by the Secretary of State’s Voting Systems and Procedures Panel. McWilliams said that approval was expected at the board’s next meeting on April 21, however, the machines were not approved at that meeting and an objection was filed by Protection and Advocacy, Inc. (PAI), a non-profit advocacy organization that receives Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funding to conduct activities related to voting rights for people with disabilities and is a member of the Secretary of State’s HAVA 301 Committee.
"After attending a demonstration of the the TSx on April 6, PAI determined TSx approval would be contrary to California law (Elections Code section 19251 (c)) because its audio confirmation system does not operate by the same mechanism as the paper one, and therefore does not provide a voter who is blind with the same security precautions as a sighted voter. PAI also objected to the fact that the Voting Systems and Procedures Panel does not have any members who have disabilities. TSx certification was expected to come before the panel in Sacramento on May 19, but that meeting was postphoned until June 16, reportedly at Diebold’s request.
"The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) lists Sequoia Voting Systems (the only company with a verified paper-trail touch screen machine) as a major donor on their website, and according to journalist Lynn Landes, they and The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), both ardent supporters of paperless touchscreen voting machines, have received over $1 million dollars from the voting machine industry.
"Diebold paid a $2.6 million settlement last year after Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed suit against the company for installing a last-minute, uncertified software patch to their machines in Alameda county. Crnich said she sat through the hearings of the SoS Voting Systems and Procedures Panel that covered, among many other issues related to touch screen voting throughout the state, Diebold's actions in Alameda. She said she heard conjecture on both sides and although the "patch" was developed by Diebold at the request of Alameda county to address a specific problem, it remains unclear to her whether or not Diebold representatives told Alameda county officials that they didn't need to have their software changes certified. "It is either a misunderstanding or it is reprehensible," she said. "But I don't think any reputable business would blatantly try to break the law in such a way as that."
"Whether or not Diebold is a reputable business is in question. As sourced by Landes at her website www.ecotalk.org:
* Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.htmlhttp://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml* Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#howhttp://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf* Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#howhttp://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf"Sequoia also has a remarkably dark past, according to Landes and others. It began its modern life as Automatic Voting Machine and the company’s founder, Lloyd A. Dixon Jr. resigned as president and CEO on Jan. 10, 1973, and later went to prison, after being indicted by a New York federal grand jury for bribing Buffalo election officials. The company was also fined nearly $50,000 for bribing Texas and Arkansas officials. The next owner of Sequoia Pacific, financier and corporate raider Louis Wolfson, was convicted of bribing the only Supreme Court Justice ever forced to resign in disgrace, Abe Fortas. In 1999, executives Phil Foster and Pasquale Ricci were convicted of paying Louisiana commissioner of elections Jerry Fowler an $8 million bribe to buy their voting machines. These convictions took place in the context of a massive election scandal in Louisiana involving connections with organized crime, in which Sequoia executives gave immunized testimony against state officials. Currently, the company is largely controlled by the British cash-printing firm De La Rue, whose corporate parent, private equity firm Madison Dearborn, is a partner of the Carlyle Group, the investment firm that employs the current president’s father, former president George Herbert Walker Bush.
"Alameda county registrar of voters Bradley Clark, who oversaw the Diebold software patch that lead to the lawsuit and argued against paper-trail voting, has newly been appointed as California’s deputy Secretary of State. Bruce McPherson, a Republican from Santa Cruz, was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger as Secretary of State after Democrat Kevin Shelley resigned amid scandals over fundraising and spending of HAVA funds earlier this year. Shelley championed having a paper-trail for touch-screen voting, as now enshrined in California law. Members of McPherson’s transition team include Clark; Cynthia Bryant, Chief Legislative Affairs Secretary to Schwarzenegger and former lead policy director for Senate Republican caucus; Ernest Hawkins, Director of "Election Center," a dubious organization funded by e-voting vendors; Robert Lapsley, Bush appointee to the State Department, responsible for strategic modernization initiatives in elections; Steven Merksamer, a powerful Sacramento attorney whose firm represents Citizens to Save California, which is raising money to place Schwarzenegger initiatives on the ballot (which have redistricting as their centerpiece); Beth Miller-Malek, whose partner, Marty Wilson, has been active in raising funds for Schwarzenegger; Adan Ortega Jr., former chief deputy secretary of state and an employee of GCG Rose & Kindel, a lawfirm whose clients include Diebold; and William Wood, California Corporations Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Corporations
"Crnich said if she were asked to install a last-minute software patch, she would certainly contact the secretary of state about it. When asked whether or not Humboldt county had ever been asked to install such a patch, elections manager Lindsay McWilliams said until 2002, last-minute software patches were routinely applied. McWilliams said Diebold representative Steve Knecht of Nevada flew to Humboldt in his private plane to demonstrate the new machines last month, and Supervisor Jill Geist said she had sampled them. He said during the last Arcata election he was getting inconsistent feed rates between feeders and readers, so he had Knecht come up to re-calibrate and test them.
"Humboldt county elections have undergone several administrative changes in the last decade. In 1990, Crnich was elected as county recorder and McWilliams was elected city clerk, and they took office in January 1991. In 1993-4, the county purchased and installed the present optical scan system from Global Election Systems, which was later purchased by Diebold. In 1996 McWilliams resigned his elected position to accept the appointed position of Director of Administrative Services. At that time, the office of County Clerk was trifurcated into the Courts (which became a function of the State of California under an appointed Court Administrator); Non-judicial County Clerk functions (which were combined with the duties of County Recorder); and Elections (which were moved into Administrative Services and stayed under the appointed department head, Lindsey McWilliams).
"In 2003, the Administrative Services department was again reorganized. Most of the functions of that department were then put under the newly created 'General Services Department' under Risk Manager, Kim Kerr. As a part of that reorganization, the Elections department was again moved under the elected County Clerk (Crnich), and changed McWilliams’s position from one of appointed department head to “Election Manager”, an employee under the elected County Clerk.
"Mendocino county has held its last three elections on the same Diebold optical scan equipment used in Humboldt county, replacing punch cards when they were decertified by the state. According to Marsha Wharff, Mendocino Assessor-County Clerk Recorder, Mendo’s $865,000 contract with Diebold includes a single touch-screen voting machine with audio capabilities for each precinct, to be delivered and paid for when and if that equipment is certified. Mendocino has approximately 50,000 voters.
"In the recent November 2004 2nd district Supervisor's race, incumbent Richard Shoemaker asked for a recount, which confirmed that Jim Whattenberger had unseated him. Shoemaker, who held a 20-vote lead on election night, saw his victory disappear after county election officials tallied 377 absentee ballots that were turned in on election day. The final count showed 3,113 votes for Wattenburger and 3,108 for Shoemaker.
"Wharff said in the recount that, 'It was kind of clear why the computer did not count certain votes - because people hadn't filled in the dots fully.' The race had been split by 7 votes, Wharff said, and after the recount the difference was 8 votes. The recount cost Shoemaker $3800.
"Recenty, Wharff announced Mendocino will be one of seven California counties to participate in a pilot program going to all-absentee voting, provided AB867 (Liu) passes through the state Assembly and Senate. That would mean scrapping the county’s Diebold equipment except for a few machines voters could use at her office. Wharff said she would continue to pursue the Diebold contract in the meantime....
(The remainder of the article is about open source electronic voting systems, and also refers the reader to www.OpenVoting.org.)
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Here are some important names and other items to note, from the above article...
Humboldt County
Clerk Recorder (former): CAROLYN WILSON-CRNICH
Elections Manager: LINDSAY MCWILLIAMS (Lindsey?)
Entered talks to purchase Diebold TSx before it's even certified.
Crnich said, re the AG lawsuit against Diebold (on Alameda County matter): "I don't think any reputable business would blatantly try to break the law in such a way as that."
STEVE KNECHT, Diebold representative who flew from Nevada to Humboldt in his private plane, at the request of (election?) Supervisor JILL GEIST to re-calibrate and test the machines after problems in a local election.
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Sequoia--employer to former CA Sec of State Repub Bill Jones and his chief aid Alfie Charles (and defendant in LandShark's lawsuit in WA)--is apparently currently controlled by the CARLYLE GROUP (through the Brit firm DE LA RUE and corporate parent MADISON DEARBORN).
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That astonishing list of felonies in Diebold's and Sequoia's background! Jeez.
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Alameda County
County registrar of voters BRADLEY CLARK
Oversaw uncertified Diebold patch that got Diebold sued by AG, argued against paper trail voting, appointed by Bruce McPherson as Deputy Sec of State!
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Posted at DU before, but why not be reminded?
Members of McPherson’s transition team include
BRADLEY CLARK;
CYNTHIA BRYANT, Chief Legislative Affairs Secretary to Schwarzenegger and former lead policy director for Senate Republican caucus;
ERNEST HAWKINS, Director of "Election Center," a dubious organization funded by e-voting vendors;
ROBERT LAPSLEY, Bush appointee to the State Department, responsible for strategic modernization initiatives in elections;
STEVEN MERKSAMER, a powerful Sacramento attorney whose firm represents Citizens to Save California, which is raising money to place Schwarzenegger initiatives on the ballot (which have redistricting as their centerpiece);
BETH MILLER-MALEK, whose partner, MARTY WILSON, has been active in raising funds for Schwarzenegger;
ADAN ORTEGA JR., former chief deputy secretary of state and an employee of GCG Rose & Kindel, a lawfirm whose clients include Diebold;
and WILLIAM WOOD, California Corporations Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Corporations (and the guy who gratuitously attacked Kevin Shelley at the June 16 VSPP hearing in Sacto!!!)
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Still haven't found what I was looking for, but, gosh, what gold mine! (so to speak)
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