Machine politics

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided last week to use the InkaVote Plus voting system in the Feb. 5 presidential primary. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Debra Bowen held a hearing Monday on test results and will decide by the middle of next month whether to allow the county to use the system.

What’s wrong with this picture? How can county supervisors commit to InkaVote Plus if they don’t know whether it will be certified?

It’s just the latest episode of official scrambling over the county’s voting systems. Bowen and L.A. elections officials all insist that they’re working cooperatively to get ready for the election now 70 days away, and we’ll take them at their word. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky was somewhat reassuring last week when he told his colleagues that everyone is in “problem-solving mode.” Privately, officials in Sacramento and Los Angeles say that at least partial recertification is assured. Bowen might simply announce next month that InkaVote Plus is fine as is, or with modest conditions that the county will be able to handle.

But Bowen also has the power to completely decertify the system. That uncertainty does little to assure public confidence in Los Angeles’ election procedures, so the sooner Bowen acts, the better -- whatever her decision may be. It would be helpful too if she and county officials cooperated a little more openly.

Up to now, there has been plenty of unnecessary tension between the secretary of state’s office and the county registrar-recorder over Bowen’s top-to-bottom review of voting systems. It didn’t help that InkaVote Plus’ manufacturer wasn’t included in Bowen’s August decision recertifying systems because it didn’t get the equipment to her in time. The subject of electronic voting already draws enough conspiracy theorists and political ax-grinders to undermine reasonable discussion.

Los Angeles County voters should be aware that the standard voting system they used in recent elections remains certified for use in February. The system still under review, InkaVote Plus, is used here only as a ballot reader that lets voters know whether they made any mistakes -- like voting for two candidates in the same race -- and for its audio booth that provides access for disabled voters. It is not used to count votes or to transmit data to another location. The county is putting off plans to convert to a new central counting system and will stick with the one it has used since 1998.

In other words, there is no need to panic. Quick action from Bowen, and continued cooperation with the county, can keep L.A. voters confident in the integrity of their elections.