A voting sytem that we can count on

A voting system that we can count on

Monday, August 08, 2005

BY KATHERINE JOYCE AND ANDREW SPRUNG

In his Jan. 11 State of the State address, acting Gov. Richard Codey pledged to let voters see a paper record of their choices before they leave the voting booth.

"People must have confidence that their vote is counted. Every electronically cast vote must produce a paper receipt," he said.

Bravo: one promise fulfilled. On July 7, Codey signed a law requiring that all voting systems include paper-based "voter verification" by 2008. Specifically, that's a paper record, preserved for possible recount, that voters can see and verify before their votes are executed. Approximately 20 states have passed or will soon pass such a law -- an essential safeguard of democracy. Like all computers, electronic voting machines are subject to error and tampering. A paper record that does not depend on the machine's software is the only way to guarantee an auditable vote.

But the voter verification law creates a dilemma for Essex County and a handful of other New Jersey counties still using mechanical-lever or punch-card voting machines. The technology needed to comply has not yet been certified in New Jersey. Another state law requires that all the lever and punch- card machines be replaced by Jan. 1, 2006, which also is the deadline to qualify for federal Help America Vote Act funds to aid the purchase of new equipment. Most New Jersey counties have an expressed preference for "full face" electronic voting machines, which show the entire ballot on a single screen. At present, only one machine of this kind, the Sequoia AVC Advantage, is certified for use in New Jersey. Not surprisingly, most of New Jersey's 21 counties already use or have signed contracts to purchase this model.

The problem is that the Advantage does not produce a voter-verified paper record. Machines purchased now will have to be retrofitted by 2008 with printers not yet developed at a cost of $2,000 per machine. Other vendors offer full-face electronic machines that produce a voter-verifiable paper record, but none is yet certified in New Jersey. Further, there is some question whether the Advantage, a machine designed in the early 1990s and lacking the most recent federal certification, will prove to be in compliance with the Help America Vote Act.

In short, one wave of voting rights legislation has overtaken another, and several counties are caught in the crunch. Freeholders are under pressure to approve funding for electronic voting equipment that may be obsolete before it's ever deployed.

The real issue is the process by which New Jersey selects its voting equipment. The attorney general's office, which controls certification of machines, keeps the process opaque, refusing to respond in a timely way to citizens' requests for information about its standards. Counties seeking to purchase new equipment have had a choice rather like that of old-time buyers of the Ford Model T, which Henry Ford said could be had in any color -- "as long as it's black." New Jersey's county election commissioners can select any "full-face" machine -- as long as it's Sequoia's.

Other states do things differently. The Arkansas secretary of state's office has posted on its Web site a 127-page request for proposals, soliciting bids for "what the state hopes will be a highly competitive process" and spelling out a broad range of selection criteria. The process will include demonstrations by four finalists. Unlike in New Jersey, the state will select one vendor for all counties. But it will do so through an open, systematic and competitive process. Essex County, in grappling with its dilemma over the past two months, has pushed the state toward a more competitive process. On July 27, honoring an agreement struck with an ad hoc coalition of voting rights activists, county freeholders and election superintendent Carmine Casciano hosted an open demonstration of competing vendors' voting machines. Casciano has scheduled followup presentations by each vendor. As members of the ad hoc coalition, now known as the Essex County Task Force on Voting Rights, we applaud the freeholders and Casciano for this striking departure from business as usual.

To ensure that the Essex County demo stimulates a genuine selection process, our task force has moved rapidly on two fronts. First, having researched viable alternatives, we contacted vendors and arranged for them to show their wares on July 27. Second, we have pushed for an expedited and more transparent state certification process. Meanwhile, Warren County has shown one way to cope with the deadline pressure, committing to purchase a "full-face" electronic machine from New Jersey-based Avante that is expected to gain certification by September.

Our guiding premise is that the "software" of democracy -- open and accountable government -- is essential to ensuring public confidence in the hardware of democracy -- reliable and transparent voting machinery. We feel sure that New Jersey can and will deliver on both counts.

Katherine Joyce and Andrew Sprung are members of the Essex County Task Force on Voting Rights.