[no subject]

At the first test Mr. Kolwicz asked a simple question: What is the level of
software currently being certified by the Secretary of State?  The answer
was reluctantly forthcoming from the Clerk.

Then he asked another simple question: How can I tell if the software
certified to run is running on these machines?

The Clerk didn't know.  Nancy Jo Wurl didn't know.  Tom Halicki didn't know.
The vendor didn't know.

I knew.  I told the assembled crowd to have the operator to click on "Help
About".

Now, folks, this isn't rocket science.   It is really, really basic and
anyone familiar with the writing any kind of software would have known.

So the Help/About screen read that the version was 2.01.  The version
certified by the Secretary of State was 2.1.  As anyone familiar with
software should know, these are not necessarily the same version ... just
like 201 Main Street is not the same house as 21 Main Street. 

OK, it was likely a typo.  A stickler for accuracy would have said, "Sorry,
this is not the software that was certified.  We need to get _this_ software
certified."  I would have pushed harder but I was merely a poll watcher.  Al
Kolwicz was the Republican representative.

More importantly, it should not have fallen to Al or me to have validated
any of this.  The Clerk's Information Technology department should have had
all of this nicely laid out for the representatives.  The validation of the
certification should have been done by the Clerk's office.  It should not
have been Al's (or my) responsibility.

If the Clerk wanted the testing to proceed smoothly then she should have had
all of this ready.  She didn't.


And that is why I should have been there and why Bo Shaffer and Mr. Tiger
did not want me there.  I knew what I was doing.  Al Kolwicz knows what he
is doing.

Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Tiger have repeatedly shown that they want to keep the
Clerk happy.  I want to keep the process clean and that is a very different
thing.



Interested observers can verify my story by watching the videotape of the
proceedings.  The tape was not filmed surreptitiously.  Al had gotten the
gracious permission of the Clerk to tape the proceedings.


>
>Paul Tiger
>
>

Ralph Shnelvar