In January, 2007, following Debra Bowen’s election as California’s new Secretary of State, Lowell Finley, Voter Action’s co-founder, was appointed as Bowen’s Deputy Secretary of State for Voting Systems Technology and Policy. Under their leadership, California conducted an exhaustive, comprehensive review of all of the voting systems technology in the state. Following the completion of the review, Secretary Bowen issued a ruling decertifying the electronic voting machines, with future recertification limited to certain conditions.
Her ruling, based on findings in the review that DRE systems are fundamentally unreliable, has heightened scrutiny across the country to the threat posed to the integrity of our elections by the continued use of these machines for the counting and recording of our votes. We continue to work with attorneys from top law firms, civil rights and election integrity leaders, county registrars and with the Secretary of State’s office to seek further improvement of the California voting system and ensure proper recertification processes.
Recent News
Premier Election Solutions admitted in a state hearing Tuesday that the audit logs produced by its tabulation software miss significant events, including the act of someone deleting votes on election day.
Following three months of investigation, California's secretary of state has released a report examining why a voting system made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly known as Diebold) lost about 200 ballots in Humboldt County during the November presidential election.
Legal Action
In March 2006, a group of 24 California voters, including Dolores Huerta, social justice activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, filed a lawsuit in California state court against then-Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and various county registrars to halt the use or purchase of the Diebold TSx electronic voting system. More >>
Links:
[1] http://www.voteraction.org/news-article/2009/diebold-admits-systemic-audit-log-failure-state-vows-inquiry
[2] http://www.voteraction.org/news-article/2009/diebold-admits-systemic-audit-log-failure-state-vows-inquiry
[3] http://www.voteraction.org/news-article/2009/report-diebold-voting-system-has-delete-button-erasing-audit-logs
[4] http://www.voteraction.org/news-article/2009/report-diebold-voting-system-has-delete-button-erasing-audit-logs
[5] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C1
[6] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C2
[7] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C3
[8] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C4
[9] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C5
[10] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C6
[11] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C7
[12] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C8
[13] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C1
[14] http://www.voteraction.org/print/3%3Fpage%3D0%2C18