Once again, the country’s largest voting machine vendor, Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S), has failed in yet another state certification process, The BRAD BLOG has learned.
In a letter faxed to the company yesterday, Colorado’s Secretary of State Mike Coffman informed the Omaha, Nebraska, company that the state has suspended the certification process of ES&S’s voting systems due to a failure to provide required documentation and other materials needed to complete testing. That, after several previous deadline extensions had been granted.
“[T]here is a history of coordination issues with your company,” Coffman wrote to ES&S’s Vice President of Certification, Steve Pearson, in the two-page letter, before detailing a litany of problems they’ve had with the company throughout the testing period.
“Those issues include the following: changing project managers multiple times since April, providing incorrect programming of required databases for testing, providing incorrect ballots for testing, failing to provide required documentation of Federal testing, and test failures requiring extensive machine servicing,” wrote Coffman.
The complete letter is posted at the end of this article.
The testing of Colorado’s systems comes after all of the state’s voting systems were decertified by a state judge just prior to last year’s November election. In the 2006 lawsuit, brought by legal e-voting watchdog VoterAction.org on behalf of several Colorado voters, the judge found that the state’s certification process amounted to little more than opening the box, checking for manuals, turning the system on and off and stamping it as good-to-go.
As the finding in the lawsuit came just prior to the November general election, the state’s e-voting systems were allowed for use one more time before all such systems were automatically decertified, to allow the testing process to begin again afterwards — legitimately this time.
Since then, all of the companies whose systems are being tested in the state have delayed in turning over needed materials, prompting speculation from e-voting critics that, with elections pending, they may be purposely delaying the process in hopes of running out the clock.
But similar failures by ES&S to cooperate with state officials around the country have now become legion.
The latest mess in Colorado echoes closely similar problems with the company as seen in other states over the last year. Just a brief sampling of some of those extraordinary failures include…
- In CA: Refusal to supply needed materials in time for state certification testing.
- Also in CA: Deploying nearly a thousand uncertified voting systems without notice to state authorities.
- In AR, TX, IN and several other states: Failure to deliver absentee and early ballot programming on time for the start of elections.
- In OR: Failure to supply voting machines as per contract with the state.
- In the contested FL-13 U.S. House election: Strong-arming state officials before agreeing to release source code for post-election forensic studies.
- At the Federal level: Failed to disclose to federal authorities that touch-screen voting machines were being made in The Philippines.
After several previous unmet deadline extensions, as described in the letter, Coffman generously offers ES&S one more opportunity to submit the required materials in order to un-suspend the testing process. The company must act by November 16th, the date described by Coffman as the “ultimate deadline for these items to be delivered and finalized to the Testing Board.”
Of additional note, during the VoterAction.org lawsuit, John Gardner, the man responsible for certifying/rubber-stamping the systems originally on behalf of the state, under then-Secretary of State Gigi Dennis, admitted during his deposition that he had no formal training in computer science and that he was not an expert in the areas required by state law.
Curiously enough, however, according to the notice sent to ES&S, it seems that Gardner is still in his post, as Coffman concludes: “If you have any questions regarding this request, please feel free to contact John Gardner directly.”
We obtained a copy of the letter too late at night to receive comment on the Gardner matter from the Colorado SoS office.
Of additional additional note, the SoS who initially oversaw the entire fine Colorado certification mess, prior to Dennis, was Donetta Davidson.
Davidson would leave her post in 2005 when she was tapped by George W. Bush to become a commissioner on the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC). In 2006, she became their chairwoman. The EAC is responsible for overseeing federal certification of e-voting systems for the entire country.
The two-page 10/24/07 letter from CO Secretary of State Mike Coffman to ES&S Vice President of Certification, Steve Pearson, follows in full below. Here is a downloadable PDF of the letter…
“state’s certification process amounted to little more than opening the box, checking for manuals, turning the system on and off and stamping it as good-to-go.”
Miami Dade County’s SOE, Lester Sola wrote a scathing letter to ES&S because they failed to deliver their multi-lingual feedback firmware and other software and hardware items as promised in Oct. 07. ES&S told Sola, these items would not be available until the Spring of 08. Leaving Miami Dade little time to prepare for the Fall Elections and properly train pollworkers and voters on the expected voting system.
Broward County, although the needs are the same, did not take any of this into consideration when eagerly accepting the new optical scanners.
Broward County’s Acceptance and Delivery Testing for the 942 new ES&S DS200 optical scanners consisted of opening the box, checking for loose screws, turning the machines on and off, running some kind of test ballots with no races, with pre-loaded firmware from somewhere….with noone checking hash code values with what the state certified…..no demonstration of the ability of the scanners to conduct a legal FL election from beginning to end…..all being done by ES&S themselves! Thanks to Broward County negotiators signing away Broward County’s elections to ES&S with no guarantee any votes would be recorded accurately or any “Performance Bond” to stand behind their product.
The firmware loaded from somewhere were not matching the State Certified versions of 2 firmware items. SOE Dr. Snipes using her discretion…only allowed 2 hrs. of observation by the Media and the Public out of weeks of testing…. it seems ES&S and the Broward Elections Dept. have much to hide!!! All this and more is written into our contract with ES&S!
Americans love electronic machines, the more sophisticated and complex the better. However, ALL computers using complex coded programs which are hidden to public view can be tricked… ALL OF THEM. There is only one ‘system’ for safe and honest voting, and that system is the “sunshine system.” This means using ONLY paper ballots which, after marking, are then slipped into a clear lucite box in full view. The ballots are, at the close of the polls, then counted, again in clear view, by members of the public of each precinct and the results for each precinct immediately announced. If the ballots disappear from public view for as little as ten minutes be assured that some very clever person(s) has figured out how to make substitutions, etc. Particularly, the ballots MUST BE HAND COUNTED… ONLY. No machine count at all!!!
And we need international election monitors. Americans have to get over this crap about being “too good” for international monitors, that they’re for “everyone else” but the U.S. Look where it’s gotten us. America needs it a hell of a lot more than some of the other countries that let international monitors in!
You really need to come into the 21st Century. All this “fear mongering” is absurd. I like e-voting, I trust e-voting. There is absolutely no evidence that hand counting is the best way to go. Paper ballots can easily be compromised given the right circumstances. Be careful what you wish for.
E-voter
There is absolutely a mountain of evidence that e-voting is not the way to go, and you can dig into that mountain right here. Paper can be compromised much less easily than EVMs and never on so great a scale. You might like poking screens with lights and bells and whistles, but you will be entertaining yourself at the price of your own freedom.
#4, what planet have you been on for the past 7 years??? Electronic voting is for those who can’t win a fair election. With the flip of a tabulator thousands of votes can be switched from one candidate to another. Paper and pencil is the way to go.
You guys offer a lot of comic relief, that’s for sure. It’s entertaining. Obviously, most contributors to this story have never worked in an elections office or even served as an elections worker. The claims that “my candidate didn’t win, so the election is rigged” is certainly the voice of someone who thinks he knows everything. Offer up some hard core evidence during a “live” election where an attempt to alter votes was committed — give dates, times, etc. And if such a crime was committed, why didn’t someone call the Sheriff? On the other hand, myth-mongers have done research in a controlled environment and it tooks weeks to “break in” to the voting equipment (and that was only because they were given passwords and source codes). They obviously didn’t work on this during a “live” election because they would have been committing a crime. Perhaps you should do some historical reading on paper ballots and hand counts. Also, there is no proof out there that anyone really knows how to count (and count correctly) thousands and thousands (and thousands) of ballots. I know it’s become a business now, but all of the fear mongering is really starting to bore me.
The only way e-voter will realize the truth is when a candidate from a (not to offend anyone)very, very minority party wins a national election. Do the Repugs think they are the only ones who can hijack an election?? His naivte is scary!!
Okay, why don’t you naysayers become part of the process rather than part of the problem — you think you’re such an expert. Quit your job (if you actually have one) and go to work for an elections office. Oh, wait, that won’t work, that might blow your whole conspiracy theory and then what would you have to complain about. It’s such a beautiful day outside, maybe you should give this a try (and this may be a whole new concept for you) — be positive for a change.
Hmmmm, somthing that can be physically prove or no such data? Easy, go with the proven data! As goes ballot stuffing … hundreds possibly thousands HCB’s( hand counted ballots) electronically HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS Period!
Oh come on, how many ways will you let yourselves get fuck, before light dawns elsewhere?
Paper ballots. International election monitors. No electoral college.
It just now struck me that the reason the county workers and others involved on election day are so weirdly determined against election integrity is because hand counting is tedious. They don’t care if elections are stolen as long as they don’t have to sit down and do any boring old counting.
E-Voter said:
That is a lie, and complete disinformation. Consider this your first warning “E-Voter”. Knowing disinfo is not allowed here, and you have just posted complete and utter bullshit. Knock it off, or your days here will be numbered.