Vote Pad suing CA's SOS

[Stevepol]

Vote Pad for those who don't know is a non-electronic, inexpensive device designed by the handicapped for use in elections. It's apparently an ideal way to avoid the high cost and insecurity of the electronic voting machines. The ease of voting for handicapped people is maybe the biggest lever that is used by the vendors of DREs to get the machines into the voting process since the HAVA law mandates that the handicapped be provided for and almost requires the use of DREs, at least that is the way a lot of elections officials view it. The device is used in WI, evidently with little or no problem.



Vote-PAD Inc. Files Legal Claim Against California Secretary of State

10/16/2006 9:56:00 AM

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Vote-PAD Inc. today filed a formal claim with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board Asserting that the Secretary of State violated a number of State and Federal protections during the Vote-PAD certification process: "a violation of the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitutions of both the United States and the State of California, a breach of contract, a violation of the California Administrative Procedures Act, a violation of the Election Code provisions governing voting system certification and an abuse of discretion in the Secretary's authority to certify voting systems."

The Vote-PAD, recently used in the Wisconsin primary election, is a non-computerized device designed to help people with disabilities hand mark a paper ballot. Six California counties were hoping to use the Vote-PAD this November, but on Aug. 25, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson refused to certify it for use in California.

Ellen Theisen, President of Vote-PAD Inc., said, "With no guidelines or regulations to follow, the Secretary's staff just made everything up as they went along -- the joint application process with the counties, the test plan, the method of evaluation and even the criteria they used to recommend denial. What they came up with was unprecedented and contrary not only to usability testing principles but to common sense as well."

"Furthermore," Theisen added, "their ad hoc plan was administered by people unqualified to conduct usability testing, their record-keeping was haphazard, and their analysis of the data shows a lack of due diligence.

Link: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=74361

[nicknameless]

1. Yea, VotePAD!

K&R

[salin]

2. I hope this gets tons of publicity - so that more folks know

of the viable alternatives to meeting HAVA in regards to voters with disabilities that do not include electronic touch screen machines.

[GuvWurld]

3. Coverage from Eureka Reporter

http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=16241

[Pokey Anderson]

4. For some sharp background on the story,

go to their press release which intersperses the actions of the CA Secretary of State with the story of Alice in Wonderland.

"Off with Their Heads!" cried the Queen of Hearts

August 28, 2006
http://www.vote-pad.us/media/certificationdenied.asp


"How am I to get in?" asked Alice again, in a louder tone.

"Are you to get in at all?" said the Footman. "That's the first question, you know."

It was a Queen of Hearts sort of a day in California on August 9, 2006. The Secretary of State's advisory panel was hearing public comments regarding the pending certification of the Vote-PAD, a non-electronic assistive device designed to help voters with disabilities mark and verify a paper ballot independently.

Voting integrity advocates held signs supporting the certification of Vote-PAD. They told of countless failures of computerized voting systems. They spoke about recent discoveries of easily hackable "back doors" into the vote totals on those systems, which have been certified. By contrast, "Vote-PAD is no more hackable than a #2 pencil," said one.

Notwithstanding this and the letters praising the Vote-PAD from dozens of people with visual and motor disabilities, the Secretary of State's staff was recommending against certifying the Vote-PAD for use in California.

The Queen started by describing the testing process, "We asked them to vote independently on the Vote-PAD, and we told them exactly what to do the entire time."

"Excuse me," said Alice, "but how is that independent?"

"That's not the point," said the Queen. "The point is that they weren't able to vote independently."

"But you didn't let them," objected Alice.

"Don't be impertinent," said the King.


for more, go to http://www.vote-pad.us/media/certificationdenied.asp

{Moderators, this is a press release, and author says it's okay to post more than 4 paragraphs.}

[EFerrari]

5. ad hoc and unqualified. That's seems to be the M.O.

Remember the public hearings in Sacto that Bruce didn't bother to attend or to announce in time for the actual public to know about them?