Fwd: today's voting news (from NM)

["Joe Pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>]

FYI from our neighbors down in New Mexico. I thought people might like to see the text of Charlie's letter to his legislators, and the wording of the County's letter to the State. -Joe

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "charlie strauss"
> Date: December 10, 2003 11:37:29 AM MST
> Subject: today's voting news
>
> HR2239 is gaining some support.  its now up to 94 supporters.  And in the senate Bob Graham has introduced the companion bill
> http://www.senate.gov/~graham/pr120903.html
>
> I wrote to Jeanette Wallace and to Max Coll  in the New Mexico legislature asking to get an appointment to speak with them, prefacing it with a mention of the Los Alamos County letter.  I received a reply for Jeanette wallace  Who said she was booked full until after chrismass and suggested the first week of january would be good.  I have not heard from Max Coll.
>
> Wallace  is on the technology infrastructure committee and Coll is on the Voting and Elections committee.
>
> Perhaps some of the other of you would like to approach others on these commitees or your county reps?
>
> here is Coll's we page, you can navigate eleswhere from there:
>
> http://legis.state.nm.us/housedetails.asp?Name=187
>
> here is a copy of my e-mail
>
> Hello,
> I'm a computer scientist and I am part of an ad hoc group of people from Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties who are wary of touch screen voting. Our concerns are based on a careful understanding of the pitfalls of computerized voting and not on some of the more sensational allegations you may have seen in the press.
>
> Perhaps you are aware that the Los Alamos County Council voted to withhold funds for Touch Screen Voting machines until better systems become available.  The council  also wrote a letter to the Secretary of State citing its concerns and asking that New Mexico not rush to implement the Help America Vote act. The secretary of state's response was dismissive of the concerns raised by the council and appears to be basing her beliefs on misinformation.
>
> Already Secretaries of state and legislative bodies in states spanning over 25% of the US population have decided there are severe problems in current touch screen voting systems (including California, New York, Ohio, Louisiana, Maryland).  Nevada's secretary of state just held a state forum on the crisis in public confidence in these systems.  Many states have had severe and expensive problems: over 66% the machine in Louisiana have malfunctioned.  Virginia has had lawsuits, and California and Ohio  have halted their deployment.
>
> If possible I would like to discuss the issue with you and to see if you can help us appeal to the Secretary of State to be more receptive to public concerns.
>
> Could you suggest a time when I could call you to discuss the matter?
>
> I am attaching a copy of the councils letter to the SOS and If you would like to have a preview of our message please see the following web sites:
>
> http://voter.browndogs.org/touchscreen.html
> http://voter.browndogs.org/terms.html
>
>
> --------
>
> November 25, 2003
>
> Ms. Rebecca Vigil-Giron
> Office of the New Mexico Secretary of State
> State Capitol North Annex, Suite 300
> Santa Fe, New Mexico  87503
>
>
>
> Dear Secretary Vigil-Giron:
>
> On behalf of the Council of the Incorporated County of Los Alamos, I am writing to respectfully request you not proceed at this time with the purchase of 17 Edge Voting Machines as described in County of Los Alamos Resolution No. 03-20.  The County Council has placed on its December 2 meeting agenda, for reconsideration, its prior authorization for the purchase of these voting machines.  According to Nita Taylor, Los Alamos County Clerk, these machines were being ordered through your office.
>
> At the Work Session of the County Council on November 18, 2003, the Council heard concerns from our residents over the purchase of the Edge Voting Machines from Sequoia Systems.
>
>
> Our concern with these systems is that no recount can be accomplished that demonstrates that each and every vote was recorded and counted as intended by the voter.  Ballot images printed out at the end of the voting period do not accomplish that; they merely reproduce what the machine recorded.  It is important to this Council that every voter be confident that his or her vote has been recorded as well as counted as intended.
>
>
> Given the rapidly developing maturity of these systems, the lagging standards for certification and testing, and the gravity and potentially expensive consequences inherent to early adoption, the County Council is reconsidering the purchase of touch screen voting systems.
>
>
> Should this present an issue for you or if the order has been placed, please contact Donna Dreska, County Administrator, at 505-662-8080 so that we can be informed.  We appreciate your assistance in this matter and hope that you can be of assistance to our County Clerk in answering the concerns.
>
> As the County Council, we know this issue is dear to the citizens and voters of Los Alamos and believe it would be equally so to every voter in New Mexico.  As such you may want to investigate this matter further for New Mexico voter security.
>
> Supporting information:
> Our residents continue to send us many other reservations; these include:
>
> •	The threat to voter confidence created by lack of transparency, the likelihood of electronic errors and special difficulties in recovering from them, and the opportunities for computer-scale vote fraud.
>
> •	Numerous reports of voting system malfunctions that suggest certification and testing is not sufficient to eliminate design errors in complex systems.
>
> •	Analyses by the Library of Congress, General Accounting Office, Maryland's SIAC commission, and qualified technologists have found the FEC and NASED certification and testing process outdated, and have suggested that touch screens bring unprecedented and not yet addressed vulnerabilities into the election process
>
> •	Problems and concerns motivated Secretaries of state in California, and Louisiana, as well as the NY state Assembly, to request a costly replacement/retrofit of their current Touch Screens to permit voter-verifiable balloting or other improved standards.
>
> •	When malfunctions are detected and software "patches" are installed in the middle of an election, possibly by non-election officials, the resulting system is no longer the system that was certified.  Not only does this erode voter confidence but also legal challenges have resulted. This has occurred in numerous states as well as our own: in the November 2002 election in Bernalillo County, 12,000 votes cast during early voting were recovered only ten days after the election, and only by "patching" of the system by non-election officials.
>
> Los Alamos residents suggested safeguards on touch screen systems would include voter verifiable hard copies of ballots that could be spot checked or recounted, as well the right to inspect proprietary voting system software. They noted that half a dozen commercially available voting systems that could meet these requirements are likely to be certified by independent testing authorities sometime in the next year.
>
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Geoff Rodgers
> Council Chair
>
> Cc:		Bill Richardson, Governor of the State of New Mexico
> (Sandra and Laura, please copy each of our state senators and state representatives as well thanks
> Nita K. Taylor, County Clerk
> Donna M. Dreska, County Administrator
> Pam Bacon, County Attorney