Advocates hope voting machines ruling has domino effect

 

By Gary Weckselblatt, Courier Times/Intelligencer, June 28, 2008

Bucks County voting-rights advocates are pleased with a New Jersey court decision allowing computer experts to examine the state's electronic voting machines and release their results to the public.

The Coalition for Peace Action and the American Civil Liberties Union had sued New Jersey, arguing that the public should be privy to the results before the Nov. 4 presidential election.

“This is the first time a court recognized the public's right to examine voting computers and our experts are very excited,” Rutgers University law clinic attorney Penney Venetis said of last week's ruling by Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg.

Locally, the Coalition for Voting Integrity hopes the decision spurs movement in the courts and among lawmakers against electronic voting machines like the Danaher model used in Bucks. They want them replaced with systems —such as optical scanners — that let voters fill out paper ballots and verify them when they vote.

“People should see every aspect of the voting process,” said coalition member Madeline Rawley of Doylestown. “It's the cornerstone of our democracy. The New Jersey ruling shows that the public has a right to know what happens with these machines. We hope that will spill over in Pennsylvania.”

Bucks County Democratic Committee Deputy Chairman Neil Samuels called the decision “another chink in the armor. ... all the movement has been against these [electronic] systems.

“These systems do have flaws. They do have credibility problems,” he said.

The discrepancies found in a handful of voting machines in New Jersey led Feinberg to call for tests. The errors concerned the counts of Republicans and Democrats casting their ballots, not the candidate tallies. Sequoia, the machines' manufacturer, contended the problems occurred because poll workers pushed the wrong buttons on the control panels.

Marian Schneider of Berwyn, an attorney representing voters who want the state to decertify the kind of machines used in Bucks, has outlined examples of how direct-recording electronic, or DRE machines, like the Danaher have inaccurately recorded votes.

She called the New Jersey election mistakes “disconcerting” and hopes the ruling leads to more “transparency in our election process.”

Kathryn Boockvar of Doylestown, a senior attorney for Advancement Project, which protects voters' rights, said “the real issue is the paper trails. Is what went in, the same as what went out and can you check it?”

The New Jersey testing is scheduled to begin Monday and results are expected to be available in 90 days.

Said Rawley, “This is a glimmer of hope that shows elections belong to the people, not politicians and not the companies that make the voting machines.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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