| Finally 3/20/07 some news on these printers! the NY Times "Suit Prompts NJ to Reinvent Voting Systems" by Ronald Smothers:
http://www.nytimes.c...
From this article it looks like NJ is on the verge of doing some really good things in time for May 07 primaries:
1-Having a paper record or ballot for the Sequoia voting machines used in most counties.
2-Random Audits, not yet required by federal law but the NJ State AG's office wants them.
In addition to providing a reliable paper trail, the new certification process would require random auditing of the machines and testing to make sure they can hold up under intense use. Until now only the federal government has required such certification, and adherence is voluntary
And Ms. Milgram, first assistant to NJ State Attorney General, promised Judge Fienberg that the protocols for audits and certification requirements would be established the first week in April and that public hearings will be held in regards to the new auditing procedures and the new printer add on to the Sequoia voting machines.
But
Ms. Milgram said that the company currently providing voting machines had gone through four approaches to retrofitting its equipment (for paper trail/ballot), but that the state "was not pleased with them." The latest and fifth version held more promise, she said.
Sequoia is on the 5th try? Are these printers ever going to work right?
These machines need to work and work hard- I for one look forward to larger and larger voter turn-out. If they can get the Sequoia to work with the VVPT and a system of audits we will be in good shape but if not we should consider another system all together. And when our Officials start talking about price they should compare the expense of storing the voting equipment, moving it to the polls and what the costs of keeping these machines safe will be. This is part of the price. There are other voting systems that are less bulky less costly and even less prone to tampering mischief.
Also reported in the Star Ledger last weekend,
http://www.nj.com/st... and mentioned in the Times article, there is an investigation involving Essex, Bergen and Union counties in regards to the initial purchase of the Sequoia machines. This inquiry by the State Commission of Investigation may turn up other reasons to scrap the Sequoia machines ASAP before we invest in the printers and the new training to operate them. |
