Election Integrity Blog
by Alan-PA plaintiff | Feb 7 2008Tomorrow, I will have my day in court. I will be represented by smart lawyers, well-versed in election law, and computer scientists, who understand the workings of touchscreen voting machines better than the vendors who sell them. My case is solid; according to the Pennsylvania constitution, voting machines must be auditable and the votes verifiable on a recount. My county’s touchscreen voting machines can do neither.
The story starts in 2006 when Northampton County was given the carrot of $1.5 million from the federal government to upgrade from lever machines to computerized voting machines. The Department of Justice waved the stick of litigation if we hesitated in our purchase. The County Commissioner labored under the misconception “paper is unconstitutional”, which he repeatedly announced at the meeting. Citizens’ concerns about the hazards of computerized voting were ignored by the County Council, who purchased $2.2 million of Advanced Voting Solutions WINvote DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines.
Citizens’ concerns about the accuracy and verifiability of the DREs, directed to the Pennsylvania Department of State, were ignored. Following the procedure for challenging the certification, I filed a legal petition requesting re-examination of my county’s voting machines. A total of 14 similar petitions were filed from around the state. Secretary of State Cortes responded that there was no need for re-examination, or concern, because his certifications were perfect and accurate.
