State election director wants to bypass federal testing of vote-counting device

[dragonlady]

This idea is being floated by Kevin Kennedy, who was also responsible for making the disastrous contract for the statewide voter list. He is proposing that the state should do its own (less rigorous) testing of a new machine to consolidate vote totals from the various other voting machines. This sounds like a very bad idea, all in the name of getting the results out faster, whether or not they accurately measure the voters' wishes. It also might jeopardize local clerks' access to federal funding for voting equipment. The article says the Government Accountability Board could begin discussing this as early as May 5, at its next meeting.

In what may be a first nationally, Wisconsin is considering forgoing federal certification of a new vote-counting device and testing it itself in an effort to simplify and speed the tallying of votes in November, the state's top election official says.

The device, known as HAAT for Hybrid Accumulator Activator Transmitter, consolidates totals from the electronic touch-screen voting machines and the optical scanners that read paper ballots, spitting out a single tally - a step local election officials say could significantly speed voter returns on election night.

"We've told clerks to assume it won't be ready for fall," said Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the Government Accountability Board, which oversees Wisconsin election and ethics issues.

But, he said, "we may ignore the federal requirement and test it ourselves before November."

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=736564

The next meeting of the GAB is May 5, 9:30 am, Room 150, Risser Justice Center, 120 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Madison, Wisconsin.

Members of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board are:

Judge David Deininger, chair
Judge Thomas Cane, vice chair
Judge Gerald Nichol, secretary
Judge Michael Brennan
Judge William Eich
Judge James Mohr

(Note: Brennan is a right-wing judge, the one who disregarded the plea agreement of the young men in the election day tire case and made them serve jail time.)

To contact members of the Government Accountability Board:

Send paper mail to:

Wisconsin Government Accountability Board
17. W. Main Street, Suite 310
P.O. Box 2973
Madison, Wisconsin 53701-2973

Or send electronic mail to:

[email protected]

and put "Message to board members" in the subject line.

[sybylla]

1. WTF?

The device, known as HAAT for Hybrid Accumulator Activator Transmitter, consolidates totals from the electronic touch-screen voting machines and the optical scanners that read paper ballots, spitting out a single tally - a step local election officials say could significantly speed voter returns on election night.

Like tallying a few numbers by hand takes hours. :crazy:

Maybe some of these counties should come into the 20th century. My county enters the results into a spreadsheet that ***gasp*** tallies and posts them online from the spreadsheet. It's not like this is rocket science.

What do we have to do to get rid of this Republican idiot?

[LiberalFighter]

2. How long has Kennedy been in this position? Seems like since at least the early 80's

[LiberalFighter]

3. There is absolutely NO NEED to have results instantly. They didn't in the early 1800's

Focus should be on accuracy not speed.

Some locations have the tallies performed at the county election board instead of at each of the voting sites. Don't know if Wisconsin does it that way.

They should not be trying to tally the results in a matter of a couple of hours when maybe it might take longer. But if they are tallied at each voting site and then sent to the central site it would be more efficient AND faster. VS Sending the cartridges to the central location to be tallied. And then how long do they have to wait after they arrive at the central station to total the results?