State Asked to Rethink E-Voting Decision

Kern County officials have asked the state’s top elections official to reconsider his decision to ban the touch-screen voting machines they intended to use in the November presidential election.

Registrar of Voters Ann Barnett contends in a letter to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley that the county’s Diebold AccuVote TSx machines worked properly in the March 2 primary election and should not have been banned. She said Kern County spent nearly $5 million on the machines in part because of assurances by the state that the machines were approved for use in the March election.

“Your sudden decision to decertify this system for use in the November 2004 general election appears unfounded, arbitrary and without merit,” Barnett wrote.

In April, Shelley banned the TSx machines used by four California counties for the November election and said 10 other counties could not use their electronic voting systems unless they followed a series of new guidelines. He said he believed Diebold lied to his staff about its efforts to gain federal approval for the system.

Four counties, including Kern, have sued to overturn Shelley’s decision. A hearing on that lawsuit is scheduled for next month in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Shelley spokesman Doug Stone said the secretary of state received the Kern County letter on Friday and is preparing a written response.

Stone said Shelley’s decision was justified because Diebold had failed to obtain federal approval.