Many of us are familiar with The Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
http://www.fec.gov/... which was passed in the aftermath of the 2000 election. Across the country, various state and local election officials have been working to update and improve their voting systems. This act and its possible ramifications have been frequently discussed in diaires. Yet, I would like to take a moment to bring to the attention of the blogosphere the efforts by one local supervisor of elections to maintain the integrity of our voting system. Ion Sancho is currently serving his fifth term as the Leon County Supervisor of Elections. Leon County is home to Florida 's capital, Tallahassee, which many will remember as the frontline in the battle of Bush v. Gore. Well almost six years later the fight for our voting rights continues.
Mr. Sancho first raised eyebrows and hackles when he allowed BlackBox Voting (www.blackboxvoting.org) to run a test of our local Diebold Optical Scan System. Test results indicated that there were in fact security concerns regarding this system (
http://www.leonfl.org/...). Although not ideal, certain provisions could be made in order to limit the possibility of fraud, and the paper ballots used in the optical scan system can be hand counted. The real trouble for Mr. Sancho began with his efforts to comply with Sec. 301 of HAVA, provisions for individuals with disabilities. Compliance with this section has apparently required the purchase of additional touch-screen voting machines to be located at each precinct. Mr. Sancho, a staunch advocate of paper trails, wished to purchase Auto Mark (
http://www.vogueelection.com/...), a device compatible with our current system. However, Diebold told Mr. Sancho that if he wished to use AutoMark he would be in breach of our current contract convering the optical scan system. The saga continued and is well detailed by the folks over at Black Box Voting(
http://www.bbvforums.org/...). In sum, Diebolds actions led Mr. Sancho to pursue purchasing a suitable system from one of the only two other companies approved by the state to provided voting machines, ES&S (
http://www.essvote.com/...) and Sequoia. A contract was signed between our elections office and ES&S. Amazingly at the end of December, ES&S pulls out of the deal, just days before the deadline set by federal government to comply with this section of HAVA. This untimely decision may force Leon County to return over 500,000 in grant monies received from the feds, a fact that does not still well with some of our local county commissioners.
At last night's county commission meeting, Commissioner Tony Grippa(R) appeared incensed that we should lose this money because Mr. Sancho insisted on a paper ballot from machines that are to be used by less than 1% of county voters. In his response, Mr. Sancho tried to explain that once the machines were in the precincts, it would be difficult to control who actually used them, and they could in fact be used by a much larger percentage of voters. Therefore, due to Diebold's security issues and the lack of a paper trail there could be no way to accurately verify countywide election results. Suffice it to say, Mr. Sancho found little support.
This is just one story form one county. The whole situation clearly illustrates the precarious condition of our election system. Where are we headed when only a few private companies can provide our voting equipment? What the hell is going on here? Regardless of political persuasion, the ability to vote and have that vote counted fairly should be sacrosanct. One local election official is doing his best to protect the integrity of the vote by requiring a paper trail. For that, Mr. Ion Sancho, I thank you.
This issue needs to be back on the front page. The November elections are approaching. Do you trust your voting system?