California Counties Switch Back to Low-Tech Paper Ballots

[rumpel]

Government Technologies

Here Dan Miller
May 19, 2006
"Counties are caught between a rock and a hard place when the state Legislature passes laws that affect counties where the technical capabilities don't exist."

Reprinted with permission of the National Association of Counties, and County News

When Alameda County, Calif., voters go to the polls in June they will be putting pencil to paper to cast their ballots while about 4,000 HAVA-compliant, touch-screen voting systems gather dust.

The California state Legislature's tightening of touch-screen machine requirements rendered the county's systems inadequate, forcing the county to use paper ballots and optical scanners instead of the touch-screen technology. The state mandated that all touch-screen machines have certified printers to provide a paper trail.

According to Elaine Ginnold, Alameda County's registrar of voters, the county had planned to upgrade its current touch-screen machines, which she says were more popular than paper ballots. However, the printers to the county's machines didn't become certified until February, at which point the county had already started a procurement process to acquire different equipment.

"Counties are caught between a rock and a hard place when the state Legislature passes laws that affect counties where the technical capabilities don't exist," she said. "All of the people who wanted that paper audit trail hate it because it wasn't what they expected. Rather than giving the appearance of more security, it didn't do a thing to assuage their fears.

"Counties do not have the resources to pay for all of these mandates. Counties need money and time."

more
http://www.public-cio.com/newsStory.php?id=2006.05.19-99552

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. One step closer!!

:woohoo:

:bounce:

[MadMaddie]

2. Right on....we will take what we get!!

[NV Whino]

3. Alameda is a very important county

Right on, Alameda!

[icehenge]

4. this makes me happy :)