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Contact:
Kim Alexander
President
California Voter
Foundation
kimalex@xxxxxxxxxxxx
+1 916 441-2494
Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier
Foundation
cindy@xxxxxxx
+1 415 436-9333 x108 (office), +1 415
307-2148 (cell)
Federal Court Rules in Favor of Paper Trail
Reform in
E-Voting
Los Angeles - A federal judge today ruled
that California
Secretary of
State Kevin Shelley's requirements to ensure
the security of electronic voting machines do not
violate
federal or state
law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation,
California Voter Foundation, VerifiedVoting.org, and
Voters
Unite! submitted a
friend-of-the-court brief and a surreply
in support of Secretary Shelley. The case is
Benavidez v.
Shelley.
"This decision is a landmark," said EFF
Legal Director
Cindy Cohn.
"The court said - in clear, unambiguous terms -
that requiring a paper trail for e-voting machines
is
consistent with the
'obligation to assure the accuracy of
election results.' That's an enormous victory
for secure
elections."
The court determined that the "defendant's
decision to
decertify
touch-screen voting machines and to withhold
further certification until he is satisfied
that
manufacturers have
complied with specified conditions is a
reasonable one. It is based on studies
conducted and
information
gathered which convinced him that the voting
public's right to vote is not adequately protected
by the
systems currently in
place."
This ruling is particularly significant
because Secretary
Shelley's
e-voting reforms are setting the tone for
national debate on this issue. He was the
first state
election
official to issue a blanket requirement for
voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPAT) on
e-voting
machines, though
Nevada later followed suit. On April 30,
after further review and a scandal with embattled
voting
machine vendor
Diebold Election Systems, Shelley
decertified all of the state's e-voting machines until
additional safeguards could be
implemented. His
responsiveness to the growing evidence of problems in
e-voting systems has led to pressure in
states like
Maryland and
Ohio, where similar evidence has been
downplayed.
"California is at the forefront of the
nationwide movement
for
e-voting reform," said California Voter Foundation
President Kim Alexander. "Today's court decision
reinforces
the leadership
California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley
is bringing to this critical issue."
The suit was brought by disability rights
advocates and
four
California counties (Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern,
and Plumas) that oppose Secretary Shelley's
voter-verified
paper trail
requirement and decertification orders.
The ruling concerned the plaintiffs'
requests for a
preliminary
injunction and temporary restraining order to
prevent Shelley's orders from taking
effect.
The decision is available
here.
http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/20040706-Order_re_TRO.pdf
For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_07.php#001692
About EFF
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the
leading civil
liberties
organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively
encourages and
challenges
industry and government to support free
_expression_ and privacy online. EFF is a
member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/
About the California Voter
Foundation:
The
California
Voter Foundation
is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to promoting and applying the responsible
use of
technology to improve
the democratic process. For more
information about the California Voter Foundation, please
visit http://www.calvoter.org
About Verified Voting
Verified Voting champions
reliable
and
publicly-verifiable elections in the United States.
Please visit http://www.verifiedvoting.org.
About Voters Unite!
Voters Unite is a non-partisan
grassroots network for fair and accurate
elections. Please
visit
http://www.votersunite.org.
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