The Voting News Daily: Responsible tech use for Overseas Vote,VT rejects email voting, Dominion sues over NY ES&S contract

Just in from Verified Voting: “Responsible Use of Technology for Overseas Voting”. From the report- “The security challenges posed by the electronic transmission of voted ballots are too formidable to allow the use of such systems at present. Before experimenting with voted ballots transmitted through cyberspace, we must together create a transparent public process to consider how to set cyber-security criteria…”

Florida SOS Browning proposes delay in purchasing disabled accessible voting equipt….
….Brennan Center has update on “Concerns About New York’s Voting Machines”…Bo Lipari reports- “Dominion Sues to Stop New York City Contract with ES&S”…

All this and more in today’s voting news below….

CT: Registrar of Voters suit: Alleged to have fudged petitions for herself and relatives
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2896

FL: COUNTIES COULD PUNT BUYING VOTING EQUIPMENT FOR DISABLED
http://bit.ly/b7W09Q
Tallahassee — The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee unveiled a package Wednesday that would delay a requirement for county election supervisors to buy $45 million in optical-scan voting equipment for the disabled from 2012 to 2016.

[…The state still has $67 million in HAVA funds
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/12625 ]

GA: Measure may ease voting from afar
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/article/4500/
In House Bill 665, the District 23 state representative from Cumming offers an alternative to the current ballot mailing system, one that could quicken the process by allowing them to vote electronically.

HI: New chief elections officer selected for Hawaii; no special election date set yet
http://bit.ly/aad4Mo

IL: Kane County votes all counted, but fighting might not be over
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=360024

OH: Old voting machines must go (ES&S iVotronic)
http://putnamsentinel.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=6713

MA: Online elections bill passes SGA Senate (University of Mass.)
http://dailycollegian.com/2010/02/18/online-elections-bill-passes-sga-senate/
More details on the concerns of the Senators will be provided in two videos and in an expanded version of this article to be released on Friday.

NY: Dominion Sues to Stop New York City Contract with ES&S
http://www.bolipari.com/boblog/2010/02/dominion-sues-to-stop-new-york-city-contract-with-ess/
Posted by: bolipari. In a surprise move, Dominion Voting Systems has filed an Article 78 lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court in Albany to stop the New York City Board of Elections from awarding a $70 million dollar contract for new voting machines to ES&S.

NY: Concerns About New York’s Voting Machines: An Update
http://bit.ly/d1BFg8
…The Board of Elections spoke with our coalition last Thursday, and agreed to take the following steps

SD: ACLU seeks to expand voting lawsuit
http://bit.ly/9M6yyh
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union wants to expand a voting rights lawsuit against state officials into a class-action lawsuit on behalf of American Indians in South Dakota.

TN: Ketron bill to ease military voting advances
http://bit.ly/b7w5IU
…The bill…authorizes a county Election Commission to e-mail a ballot to each member of the armed forces.
…
The legislation helps the state comply with the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, which took effect in October. That law requires the Department of the Army and Postal Service to expedite the return of ballots by using express mail, since they cannot be returned electronically due to election security concerns.

VA: Suit filed over rejected NSU voter applications
http://bit.ly/9FjTKA

Verified Voting Blog: Dominion Sues to Stop New York City Contract with ES&S

Update I, 2/19/10 – Court documents posted, links here

In a surprise move, Dominion Voting Systems has filed an Article 78 lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court in Albany to stop the New York City Board of Elections from awarding a $70 million dollar contract for new voting machines to ES&S. If a temporary restraining order is granted, it would call into question the city’s ability to deploy new voting systems in the 2010 elections, a schedule already in jeopardy due to the City Board of Election’s long delay in selecting new systems. The competition between the two companies for the New York City contract was intense, and has raised questions of lobbyist influence, possible investigations, and even subpoenas.

In court papers, Dominion argues that the New York City Board of Elections failed to comply with New York State and New York City Procurement Laws, Rules and Regulations, and awarded the contract on the basis of illegal criteria. Further, the lawsuit argues that the New York City Board of Elections:

1) Did not conduct a lawful bidding and procurement process;

2) Did not disclose the method and criteria used in evaluating bidders;

3) Did not award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder.

The city used a point system to evaluate the two companies. In the final evaluation, ES&S received 3,417 points, while Dominion received 3,395, a difference of only 22 points. Dominion claims that the slightly higher overall score for ES&S in the city’s evaluation is due to extra points given to the ES&S DS200 scanners for an option called “Easy Startup”. This option is said to include electronic machines pre-programmed in the warehouse prior to delivery to poll sites, and the ability for poll workers to open the machines without a password (such a configuration is not only an obvious security risk, but disallowed under New York election law). The lawsuit claims that the State Board of Elections explicitly ruled that the DS200 Easy Startup option does not comply with state law, and informed the New York City Board that it would reject any contracts that included it.

It remains to be seen if what impact, if any, the suit will have on the city’s ability to deploy of new voting systems this year, a schedule already in jeopardy. And of course, if the State Supreme Court were to grant the restraining order, the reaction of Federal Judge Gary Sharpe to yet further delays in New York City’s HAVA implementation schedule will need to be reckoned with as well.

Verified Voting Blog: Responsible Use of Technology for Overseas Voting

Last November, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) contacted each State with recommendations for meeting the new requirements established in the MOVE Act with the goal of bringing the absentee voting success rate for Uniformed Service members, their families and citizens residing outside the U.S. in line with that of the general population. Verified Voting strongly supports FVAP's specific recommendations: providing a 45 day period for ballot transit, removal of notary and witnessing requirements, participation with the Uniform Law Commission efforts towards regularizing rules for overseas voters, and the responsible use of technology to aid in providing voting materials to military and overseas citizens. As an active participant in the Alliance for Military and Overseas Voting Rights (AMOVR), we agree with the principle that “transmitting blank ballots electronically does not risk voters’ privacy while improving the process in all States.” Through these recommendations each state can meet the requirements of the MOVE Act without undue risk to the integrity of the electoral process, and greatly facilitate the voting process for the citizens serving our nation in uniform and others living overseas.

However, some States are considering going beyond these recommendations in ways that could be harmful. Experts in technology such as NIST, the GAO and internal reviewers of Department of Defense projects cite significant concerns with respect to the electronic submission of voted ballots. Such systems would rely on computers, servers and/or networks outside the control of election officials, for which criteria for testing and secure operation have yet to be established. Attacks on such systems could significantly threaten the integrity of elections or the ability of voters to cast ballots. Even minor phishing and spoofing attacks could trick voters into giving up their voting credentials to an attacker.