After ES&S Refuses To Turn-Over Source Code For 'Top-To-Bottom' Review
SoS Debra Bowen: 'I'm not going to stand by and watch ES&S ignore the the State of California'
By John Gideon on 6/21/2007, 8:38pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon with help from Brad On-The-Road

Today, June 21, Debra Bowen, California's Secretary of State, has announced taking action against Election Systems and Software (ES&S) because the vendor of voting machines used in Los Angeles County has refused to turn over their source code as part of her first in the nation "top-to-bottm review" of all electronic voting systems used in the state.

In the scathing press release Bowen says, "I’m not going to stand by and watch ES&S ignore the State of California and, in particular, the voters of Los Angeles County by refusing to abide by the certification conditions that were imposed when ES&S’s InkaVote Plus Voting System was certified last year."

ES&S is the only company to have so far failed to turn over the required source code for review by the Secretary of State. The press release goes on to explain why the state is taking this action:

ES&S was first notified 87 days ago – on March 26 – that it had 30 days, under the conditions imposed in April 2006 by the previous Secretary of State when he certified the InkaVote Plus Voting System, to provide the Secretary of State with its equipment, a certified version of the source code, funding to cover the reasonable cost of conducting the review, and an acknowledgement of the terms of a confidentiality agreement. The company has provided the Secretary of State’s office with some voting system equipment, but nothing else.

Also included in the press release is a letter, dated June 18, from the Secretary of State's office to David Strouse, Regional Sales Manager for Iron Mountain, Inc., the repository for ES&S's source code. The letter requests Iron Mountain, Inc.:

Please submit, by guaranteed overnight delivery to my attention at the address listed above, an encrypted copy of source code held in your escrow facility for the Unisyn Election Management System, version 1.1. Please deliver the encryption key by telephone or under separate cover by guaranteed overnight delivery. Please arrange delivery of both the source code and encryption key so that this office receives them no later than noon on Wednesday, June 20, 2007.

UPDATE: Information just received from Nicole Winger, California SoS Press Office, is that Iron Mountain, Inc., the company that holds the escrowed ES&S source code, has not complied with the letter as yet. The letter from Lowell Finley asked for the source code to be delivered on June 20. The state is working with Iron Mountain Inc. to ensure the code is provided.

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