Voting machine details hidden

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jeff Baker <jbaker2 () gw neric org>
Date: September 21, 2006 9:08:19 PM JST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Voting machine details hidden

Dave,
  For IP, if you wish. It doesn't bother me that NY is so slow in  
changing their voting machines. What bothers me is we appear to be  
doing such a weak job of it, given the amount of time NY has had to  
address the issue.

 Jeff Baker

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp? 
storyID=518229&category=STATE&newsdate=9/19/2006
Voting machine details hidden
State tells counties to decide which devices they want before  
certification process is finished
  By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau
First published: Tuesday, September 19, 2006

ALBANY - A consultant helping the League of Women Voters scrutinize  
the state's future voting machines said he's being prevented from  
seeing technical specifications from bidders who want to distribute  
the devices statewide.
And, said Bo Lipari, the state Board of Elections is now telling  
counties to choose which machines they want before they are even  
certified for use.

``It's really putting the cart before the horse,'' said Lipari, a  
software engineer who was the League of Women Voters' appointee to a  
special Board of Elections committee that is supposed to help look at  
the machines.

According to the latest instructions from the state, county election  
boards across the state have until the end of October to chose which  
model and brand of machines they want. But the state's schedule for  
certifying the machines to ensure they are reliable and easy to use  
runs through late December.

``It's just crazy to ask counties to make a choice prior to knowing  
if the machine is qualified for use,'' said Lipari.

Board of Election officials, though, say counties need to get started  
with their orders early if they are to meet a court-agreed deadline  
for having the new machines by September 2007.

State board spokesman Lee Daghlian added that purchase decisions  
aren't final contracts, and that counties also have to list backup  
choices, should some of the 11 different machines, offered by six  
manufacturers, fail the tests.

``If we waited to do contracts and all of that work after everything  
is certified, there would not be enough time to get those machines in  
place,'' said Daghlian.

Lipari, though, was also concerned that he hasn't yet been able to  
inspect the technical data packages, or software specifications, of  
the machines.

``They are still hemming and hawing,'' he said.

Daghlian said the board needs to figure out what portions of the  
specifications are proprietary and thus legally protected from public  
view.

``The technical data packages are owned by vendors. Some of it is  
copyrighted,'' said Daghlian, who explained that they may have to  
black out portions of the specifications that manufacturers want to  
keep to them selves. ``If we gave it out, it would be an infringement  
of their privacy.''

Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open  
Government, agreed that some of the proprietary information can be  
shielded.

That may not have been the case a few months ago, when a special  
Legislature-appointed committee, which Lipari was on, was still in  
existence.

But that committee expired earlier this year and lawmakers never  
renewed it. The current committee was appointed by the Board of  
Elections, but doesn't have the same legal rights. They haven't yet  
met, said Lipari, who also noted that he signed a non-disclosure  
agreement he believes should let him see the documents.

Under the federal Help America Vote Act, all states are supposed to  
modernize and increase accessibility to their voting systems. The law  
was passed in the wake of the disputed 2000 presidential election, in  
which there was much confusion about the paper ballots used in some  
Florida counties.

In March, the Department of Justice filed suit against New York in  
U.S. Northern District Court, charging the state has failed to create  
a system to accommodate disabled voters or set up a system that can  
generate a paper record. New York officials agreed to make those  
changes. The Department of Justice has also said New York, which  
relies mostly on outmoded lever machines, has been the slowest state  
to change over.


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