« Indiana Decisions - One Supreme Court and Several Court of Appeals Opinions Posted Today | Main | Indiana Law - More on PERF Privacy and the Star's editorial »

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Indiana Law - More on electronic voting in Indiana, and Elsewhere

Thursday the Indiana Law Blog posted an entry (access it here) headed "State election commission deals with problematic voting software," including this quote from an Indianapolis Star story:

The Indiana Election Commission voted late Wednesday to let four counties use illegal voting software after hearing desperate appeals by county clerks who feared primary election disasters if they didn't get help.
This morning I have discovered that Indianapolis WISHTV's I-Team 8 has done a number of stories on electronic voting in Indiana, all of which are posted on an excellent webpage titled "Will Your Vote count?" A sample from a story dated March 11th:
What began as an I-Team 8 investigation into voting technology got hot late Wednesday night. On the grill: Election Systems and Software (ES&S), the maker of touch-screen voting machines used in Indiana and across the nation. * * * They had come all the way from Omaha with apologies. “We at ES&S made the mistake of loading the wrong version of firmware on their units,” said Rob McGinnis, ES&S. A version of embedded computer code used by Johnson, Henry and Wayne Counties in November was actually illegal because it had not been approved by the state. * * * Three of the panicked clerks wanted to re-use the illegal software they used in November. A fourth clerk with brand-new machines, Vandergurgh County's Marsha Abell, was ready to throw in the towel and return her federal reimbursement money to the state. “I have my check in my folder and I'm willing to give it back to the state and use my punchcards,” she said. “Bailing you guys out is just beyond distasteful for me,” said Burdick. The state did bail them out. With reservations, the commission approved use of the illegal software for the May primary. “I don't want any county or the state to be out any more time or effort because of the condition ES&S has put everybody in and I think this is time to put up or shut up,” said Long. The solution is temporary. ***
And here are stories from the Richmond Palladium-Item (Wayne County) and the Edinburgh Courier (Johnson County) on the Indiana Election Commission meeting March 10th.

[Update] The lead NY Times editorial today is titled "Florida as the next Florida." The first paragraph:

As Floridians went to the polls last Tuesday, Glenda Hood, Katherine Harris's successor as secretary of state, assured the nation that Florida's voting system would not break down this year the way it did in 2000. Florida now has "the very best" technology available, she declared on CNN. "And I do feel that it's a great disservice to create the feeling that there's a problem when there is not." Hours later, results in Bay County showed that with more than 60 percent of precincts reporting, Richard Gephardt, who long before had pulled out of the presidential race, was beating John Kerry by two to one. "I'm devastated," the county's top election official said, promising a recount of his county's 19,000 votes.
The Times also has a special web page devoted to its series on electronic voting and other election issues, "Making Votes Count." Access it here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 14, 2004 08:40 AM
Posted to Indiana Law