Mr. Demma says the problems in Mississippi were all caused by the "human element", so he's going to bring in "professional" humans.

Professional computer scientists?

Not a chance!

In the Utah Request For Proposal used in purchasing the machines the weighting was:

Security and Accuracy 20% (up from 10%)
Cost 30%

Except the cost seems to have been ignored in favor of a system that the Governor of Maryland said maintainance costs would be increased on by 1000%. A fact known BEFORE the machines were purchased.

Percentages PerSchmentages.

Mr. Gideon incorrectly quoted the article in the Salt Lake Tribune. I did not say:

"educationally, it was a worthwhile trip, because a fair number of Mississippi's electronic voting experiences were bad to the point of absurdity"

That specific quote was not attributed or substantiated by me - it was simply an editorial comment on research done by the Tribune reporter.

I never said such a thing, and if anyone has been paying attention, I HAVE said that Mississippi's elections were successful, despite a few glitches that were easily remedied. Additionally, I have heard from top officials in Mississippi that I am, in fact, welcome back to that Great State - as they welcome in Utah.

Please discontinue to quote me, if you have never spoken to me or actually read an article thoroughly.

To explore this issue further, I would appreciate noone quoting me who has: a. never spoken with me; b. never spoken with Lieutenant Governor Herbert; and c. NEVER BEEN TO UTAH.

I am willing to accept any interview, discuss this topic with anyone and am a bit apalled by the rhetoric on this particular "BLOG" - without anyone having the decency to actually contact me directly.

This sort of nonsense is a decent reason for people to continue to discredit this website and its "contributors."

JMD.

As a postscipt, people can reach me at (801) 538.1041 at any time or E-Mail me at: jdemma@utah.gov.

I look forward to explaining the process that Utah has gone through in response to the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the procedures put in place by the Herbert Administration to ensure a safe, accurate and HAVA-compliant election.

JMD.

In fact, Mr. Joe Demma is correct. On re-reading the article it is clear that it was a statement made by the reporter and not Mr. Demma. My apologies for the misattribution of the statement.

As for the rest, if it is a quote in the newspaper, it will be a quote in "Daily Voting News". I will just be a bit more careful next time.

Also, I would very much like to hear from Mr. Demma how the state of Utah plans on making the Diebold TSx machines accessible for voters with disabilities other than the blind and sight impaired or do they plan on ignoring the vast majority of those voters? I wonder how the state will explain to voters returning from Iraq who have lost the use of their arms and who will not be able to vote in private as is supposed to be a mandate of HAVA.

Mr. Demma:

Mr. Gideon was kind enough to admit to a mistake. Have you read the GAO report about the voting machines yet, and do you admit that there could be possible problems.

Also, so you think it's fair to continue punishing Bruce Funk considering the further discoveries published in nearly every major publication in the country concerning the Diebold machines?

Oops, I have to admit a mistake at the top of this thread. I said:

"The Governor of Maryland said maintainance costs would be increased on by 1000%. A fact known BEFORE the machines were purchased".

This was probably not known in the state of Utah before the machines were purchased, I got it confused with an election official in florida who decided to scrap his Diebold system to save money, but the basic premise of my statement is the same. The money being spent didn't seem to be an overiding concern.

{Ed Note: None of that "Marry". Not even if it's true. --99}