VoteTrustUSA: Chaos in Connecticut

[Wilms]

Chaos in Connecticut

By Warren Stewart, Director of Legislative Issues and Policy, VoteTrustUSA

January 19, 2006

State Back To Square One But this Time They Have Technology Board's Recommendations For Guidance

Just what’s going on in Connecticut?

Last week, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz announced that that the machines the state was intending to use in this year’s election are not qualified to the federal standards that Connecticut requires. The Attorney General is investigating the possibility of suing the vendor, Connecticut-based Danaher Corporation, and in the meantime the state has announced its intention to use its ancient lever machines for this year’s elections while they start the entire procurement process over again.

So here we are, back at square one - just months before the primary elections.

The state had experienced difficulty in finding a vendor who could satisfy both the state’s requirement for a full-face ballot and Bysiewicz dogged determination to purchase direct record electronic machines. And then there was that new state law requiring a voter verified paper record of every vote that Bysiewicz had fought relentlessly – well, until it became clear that the proposal was headed for unanimous approval in the state legislature.

(Of course, as TrueVoteCT has pointed out relentlessly, a paper ballot optical scan system would easily meet all these requirements and cost a lot less too but until last November, she wouldn’t even allow townships to consider a paper based system.)

State officials maintain that a letter from the Department of Justice assured them that the Department would overlook the fact that Connecticut had already accepted federal funds earmarked for machine upgrades, with the stipulation that the new systems had to be in place in time for the 2006 elections.

The letter actually said nothing of the sort.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=792&Itemid=113