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Suit Out to Veto Voting System: S.J. Group Wants No Touchscreens

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Greg Kane, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Mar. 22--Critics of the controversial touchscreen voting system San Joaquin County plans to use in the June primary filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the equipment's use in the November's election.

Lawyers filed the complaint in San Francisco County Superior Court on behalf of nearly two dozen California voters, including United Farm Workers of America co-founder Dolores Huerta and Manteca resident Joseph Holder. The suit asks California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson to rescind his certification of the Diebold TSx system for November's election because of the equipment's alleged security flaws and unreadable software code.

San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Deborah Hench is among the 19 state elections officials named along with McPherson as defendants in the complaint. The county agreed to purchase 1,625 of the ATM-like TSx machines for $5.7million in 2003 but has used them only once because of certification issues.

McPherson certified the equipment last month after nearly two years of testing and modifications to bring it up to state and federal elections codes. Hench announced soon after that San Joaquin County voters would cast ballots on the TSx for both upcoming elections and said Tuesday that she doesn't expect any changes to result from the lawsuit.

"The state tested this system seven ways to Sunday," Hench said. "They didn't find anything wrong."

John Eichhorst, one of two attorneys for the plaintiffs, said Tuesday that June is too close to attempt to stop the equipment's use in the primary. The complaint instead asks that California counties not purchase or use the TSx for the next scheduled general election, in November.

The 51-page lawsuit points to documented studies and tests claiming the equipment's software can be manipulated by hackers and criticizes Diebold's use of "interpreted" code that can't be read by independent auditors.

The suit also references problems, such as lost votes and machine lockups, that other counties experienced while using the TSx in the March 2004 primary, which led to its decertification months later.

State and federal elections laws forbid the use of interpreted code, Eichhorst said. The state also requires that a system not be "vulnerable to fraud and manipulation," he said.

A printer added to the system last year to provide a verified paper trail for votes also is criticized in the lawsuit.

Eichhorst called the paper used with the TSx printers "flimsy" and said it could easily be torn or smeared while being counted.

"This system is not ready to be used in California elections," Eichhorst said. "There is other technology that can be more appropriately utilized."

Jennifer Kerns, a spokeswoman for McPherson's office, said Tuesday evening that the secretary hadn't received or reviewed the lawsuit.

However, she said the system has passed state and federal testing as well as independent reviews by a known e-voting critic and two simulated elections.

"All of those reviews concluded that the Diebold system is safe for use and will protect the integrity of the vote come Election Day," Kerns said.

Eichhorst expects the complaint to be heard in the next few months.

Contact reporter Greg Kane at (209) 546-8276 or gkane@recordnet.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

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Australia:MCP,

Source: The Record

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