SAN JOSE
– County supervisors authorized negotiations with a new, purely
electronic voting contractor Tuesday, but will also ask the state
to allow a pilot program that produces a paper record of each vote
in upcoming elections.
SAN JOSE – County supervisors authorized negotiations with a new, purely electronic voting contractor Tuesday, but will also ask the state to allow a pilot program that produces a paper record of each vote in upcoming elections.
The strategy is meant to allow the county to meet a federal mandate to implement electronic voting by the March 2004 presidential election while addressing concerns about proper safeguards in the new system.
“This keeps us on track to meet the federal court order, and if the Secretary of State approves the pilot for a voter verifiable paper ballot, it would enable us to develop a system that assures our voters Santa Clara County elections continue to be fair and accurate,” said board Chairwoman Blanca Alvarado.
County staff wanted a decision from supervisors this week so the county would have enough time to comply with a federal court order that requires it to replace its punch-card system with electronic voting by the March 2004 election.
But at the same time, several prominent computer scientists and voting experts have raised security concerns over the prospect of a purely electronic vote that does not produce a paper record for voter inspection.
Tuesday, supervisors voted 3-2 to authorize negotiations with Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems as the preferred vendor to implement the new system on a recommendation from county staff. Supervisors Jim Beall and Liz Kniss dissented.
The firms Diebold and Election Systems and Software also responded to the request for proposals. All three firms have been certified by the California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley’s office.
However, Shelley has created a new task force to review electronic voting in light of ongoing security concerns.
Tuesday, supervisors also voted to create an ad-hoc oversight committee of voters, computer security experts and citizen observers to oversee election systems.
More than 5,000 people tested the three systems and submitted surveys on ease of use, accessibility and language clarity through a pilot program and evaluation process. An independent consultant was also retained to conduct data analysis. All three vendors ran a simulated election last fall at 30 polling places.
The estimated one-time cost to install electronic voting countywide is $20 million, and annual maintenance costs are estimated at $1.7 million, although the amount is expected to shrink during final contract negotiations.
Roughly half the costs are expected to be covered by Proposition 41, the state’s voting modernization bond fund.
