(San Diego, CA) County staff recommends paper ballots

[question everything]

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/05/15/news/top_stories/19_42_505_14_04.txt


SAN DIEGO ---- County policy advisors forwarded a recommendation to their bosses Friday stating that local voters should use paper "optical-scan" ballots in November's Presidential election.

Officials said the recommendation was presented to County Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard on Friday afternoon, and that Ekard was expected to approve the recommendation next week.

Earlier this month, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley barred San Diego County and three other counties from using electronic voting machines they recently bought from Ohio-based Diebold Systems Inc. Shelley said the company had failed to get proper federal testing before the counties used the machines in the March 2 primaries. In addition, electronic "glitches" in San Diego County's system caused 36 percent of the county's 1,611 polling places to open late, preventing an unknown number of people from voting.

County officials say their contract with Diebold stipulates that the company must pay for the county's cost of using paper ballots in November. They also say they have not paid Diebold any of the $31 million they agreed to pay for 10,200 machines.

[gristy]

1. great news

I just emailed my brother in San Diego and told him he should call Ekard's office to tell him this is the right decision.

[cosmicdot]

2. I'm further north, but I hope absentee ballots get sorted out as well

Some votes miscounted in primary, officials say
by By Luis Monteagudo Jr. and Helen Gao

April 8, 2004

County officials said yesterday they discovered a new problem with the flawed March election – 2,821 absentee ballots that were miscounted in the Democratic presidential and Senate Republican primaries.

The miscounted paper ballots did not affect the outcome of the races, and county officials have corrected the results.

The software glitch that caused the miscounts has raised new doubts among county officials about the $31 million electronic voting system used in the March primaries.

County Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard said his confidence in the system has been "dampened." Meanwhile, a state official raised the possibility for the first time that the system could be dropped for the November election.

"All options are on the table, including decertification," said Doug Stone, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office.

~snip~

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20040408-9999-1m8vote.html

[Zhade]

3. Kick

Kick