<http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=91493§ion=REGION_STATE&subsection=REGION_STATE&year=2004&month=4&day=22>
The Orange County Register Thursday, April 22, 2004 Diebold could be voted out of state Panel slams touch-screen maker for errors during March vote. PANEL: California Assistant Secretary of State Marc Carrel glances at a touch-screen voting machine Wednesday. RICH PEDRONCELLI, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS By JIM WASSERMAN The Associated Press SACRAMENTO - Beleaguered electronic-voting machine maker Diebold Election Systems weathered new accusations Wednesday of computer glitches, last-minute software fixes and careless job performances that, in the words of the California Secretary of State's Office, "jeopardized the outcome of the March election." A state voting systems panel is considering disciplinary action against the Texas- based firm, which could bruise its standing nationally as states gear up to spend billions of dollars for new touch-screen voting equipment. The Diebold investigation is part of a two-day hearing into touch-screen voting in California, where fears of another disputed presidential election have activists pressing for a ban on electronic voting this November. Today, the Voting Systems and Procedures Panel is scheduled to recommend which voting systems should be used in this fall's general election, a decision that Orange County officials fear could unfairly force them to get rid of the county's $26 million electronic-voting system. Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby and Registrar of Voters Steve Rodermund, who attended the hearings in Sacramento, argued that their machines are more reliable than the controversial touch-screen machines used in other counties. Orange County uses eSlate equipment, manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas. "Base your decision on us as Orange County, not all of California," Rodermund said. "I think you'll see Orange County is doing the right way and making sure we modify based on needs." Rodermund said he had mixed feelings about a proposal to require a paper trail of votes cast on electronic machines, SB 1438, which passed the Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee on a 6-0 vote Wednesday. But its sponsor, Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, said a paper trail is vital. "Democracy is too important to trust completely to a machine - much less a machine that showed itself to be a lemon in the March primary election," said Johnson, who is co-sponsoring the paper trail bill with Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland. Diebold President Robert J. Urosevich apologized Wednesday to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, the eight-member voter systems panel that oversees California voting machinery and to 17 counties that use its electronic-voting systems. The committee today is expected to decideDiebold's fate, which could include fines or banning its equipment in California. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
