Denver auditor reluctantly approves voting machine contract

[kster]

May 18, 2006
Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher says he has reluctantly signed a contract for the purchase of touch-screen voting machines for city elections in August.
Complaining that the deadline gave him no choice but to approve the no-bid contract with Sequoia Voting Systems, Gallagher said the city would be better off if it had more than one company vying for city business.

Gallagher said he was particularly concerned by a clause in the contract that strictly limits Sequoia’s liability if anything goes wildly wrong on Election Day.

"I believe this limitation should not have been a part of this contract," Gallagher wrote to Aalton Dillard, interim director of the Denver Election Commission.

"I am not happy about the circumstances that have led to the necessity of accepting such a limitation in a contract that I have no choice but to sign.


http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4709164,00.html

Can anyone help this guy?

[msongs]

1. who authorized the contract? they are the guilty people nt

[GuvWurld]

2. Municipal Civil Disobedience

This guy needs help to be able to really stand up against what he is saying he opposes. It could mean choosing to be non-compliant with HAVA or in some other way engaging in Municipal Civil Disobedience. Let's see if we can get any suggestions from LandShark.

Also, do we have any Denver or Colorado people on this board? We're not going to be able to do anything without encouragement from locals.

[BeFree]

3. I like that

Municipal Civil Disobedience

If only more would. Ion Sancho did it. Funk did it. Shelley performed well. NY fought HAVA. It is growing.

Funny how we liberals are taking such a conservative stance against big government?

[GuvWurld]

5. Local control, resisting state and federal mandates

The need for Municipal Civil Disobedience arises from state and federal mandates that tie the hands of local government. I'm thinking City Councils, County Supervisors and Elections Departments. They should be feeling frustrated. They will sometimes lament being in an untenable situation (.pdf). When they acknowledge this, we have to pounce on our opportunity to show them their own puppet strings. We have to encourage them to cut those strings and do what is best for the community. That means taking a stand with We The People against the state and federal government that is doing us harm. We must encourage local government not to be enablers for this harm and to join us in resisting it. This is the essence of Municipal Civil Disobedience. It is crucial to the peaceful revolution (.pdf) that can only be won as the divided People unite against the illegitimate government that intentionally divides us.

[Land Shark]

4. Sounds like there may be some defenses, but have to define

"forced to" in some substantial detail. Just a HAVA deadline alone probably isn't "duress" per se.

[Hawkeye-X]

6. Hmm. We need to send this to Alan Franklin and get him going.

Paging angka.. paging angka..

[NobleCynic]

7. Sequoia is not the worst of the bunch by far

Here in Nevada Sequoia handles our voting machines. HOWEVER, one large difference in Nevada is that voting machines fall under the same controls and guidelines as slot machines do. Electronic voting machines are regulated by the Gaming Control Board (They have years of experience in dealing with electronic slot machines, touch screen slot machines, etc. The source code for the machines is also opened to the Gaming Control Board). Furthermore, because they fall under the same regulatory board, Nevada voting machines may be inspected at any time, just like the slot machines in the casinos, and if any irregularities are found huge fines and or felony charges can result.

It doesn't sound like Denver was able to get the same kind of deal unfortunately.

[lostnfound]

8. Sequoia in Snohomish County, and IMHO, in Florida counties, was tilted

to the right, needless to say.

[NobleCynic]

12. What a difference

forcing the opening of the source code to outside agencies makes eh? I'm not saying Sequoia is noble in its actions outside of Nevada, I'm not sure honest companies can get work in Florida at all, just that it has been brought under control here relatively speaking.

[Amaryllis]

9. Kster, I cant get this link to bring up the article...

[kster]

11. Heres a LINK

The link in the OP brings up a blank page :shrug: I had to do a search at Rockey Mountain News to get this one.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4710482,00.html

[paulk]

10. more info on this (worth reading)

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4693390,00.html


http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4702115,00.html



Looks like some real corruption here, but that's not unusual for Denver city govt.

The Denver Election Commission has long been a nest of incompetence.

[boulderuberalles]

13. Have a look at the boulder county deal

http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=4421

Boulder county rented machines, being stuck between the shitty HAVA compliant machines and the need for a paper trail.