E-Voting May Get State Blessing

Orange County election officials said Tuesday that state regulators are likely to soon lift a ban on their electronic voting machines, a step that would preclude the need for a return to paper ballots in November.

The announcement comes less than three weeks after California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said he would not allow 10 counties in the state, including Orange, to use electronic voting systems in November unless they meet new security standards. Shelley also banned outright the voting systems used by four other counties.

Tom Wilson, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said Tuesday that Shelley called him to say he is confident that the county’s Hart InterCivic voting system was going to be approved.

“He wanted to assure me the system in Orange County was one he felt could be taken care of and was in shape and ready to be used in November at absolutely no cost to the county,” Wilson said.

Orange County was one of several California counties to experience problems in its shift to electronic voting in the March election. An estimated 2,000 voters were given the wrong computer access codes to enter into machines, causing them to vote in races they shouldn’t have.

A county committee reviewed the problems that led to the mistakes and issued a series of recommendations to avoid a repeat of the problem in November. The board adopted them Tuesday.

Doug Stone, a spokesman for Shelley, said the secretary is pleased with the progress in Orange County.

“We’re getting very close to finalizing the recertification process with the voting system used in Orange County,” Stone said. “There are some technical aspects that need to be worked out, but there is every expectation that the system in Orange County will be recertified.”

Steve Rodermund, the county registrar of voters, is scheduled to recommend to the Board of Supervisors next week whether the county should use the Hart system in November or start making arrangements for another system, such as paper ballots.

“We’re just happy that we and the secretary of state are coming to an agreement so we can use the system,” Rodermund said. “We think this is the future of voting, and our system works very well.”

David Hart, chairman of Texas-based Hart InterCivic, said he’s confident that Orange County voters will be able to vote on his company’s machines in November. “The system worked in March,” he said. “It did everything it was expected to do.... There’s nothing we have to fix to make it work in November.”

The Hart system will be the focus of a hearing today by the state Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee about Orange County polling-place mistakes.

Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland), chairman of the committee, said he wants to understand what went wrong and how it is being resolved. Among the recommendations the county approved Tuesday was giving poll workers additional hands-on practice with the machines they’ll use on election day.

“The reason for going through this process was to find out how to make the system better,” said Brett Rowley, a spokesman for the registrar of voters. “There’s always room to improve, and the subcommittee has helped us find some of those areas. The training was the most obvious spot.”

Unresolved is who will pay for additional paper ballots that Shelley has required for voters who do not want to vote electronically. Shelley has told Orange County officials he would require Hart to pick up the cost.

The decision to require paper ballots at all polling places in California didn’t sit well with Hart. “It makes no sense to me,” Hart said. “Either the system is secure or it’s not. We believe the system is secure.”