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Connecticut Meets E-Voting Mandates
by Michael Martinez
Connecticut's top election official last week announced a series of contracts to bring her state into full compliance with a federal voting law passed after the 2000 presidential election.
Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz said the state has reached an agreement with LHS Associates, a Massachusetts-based firm, to provide optical-scan voting machines throughout the state. Voting precincts will be required to have the machines in place by November 2007, but they also may install them for elections this fall. The devices will cost the state $15.7 million.
"As our office considered possible new voting technologies, the principles of security, accessibility and reliability guided our decision-making," Bysiewicz said in a release. "We heard from thousands of citizens, academics and advocacy groups concerned about the pitfalls of touch-screen voting technology. Touch-screen technology, in its current state of development, is simply not ready for 'prime time' here in Connecticut."
Bysiewicz also announced that the state will purchase from IVS $1 million worth of machines accessible to disabled voters. Disabled voters can access the centralized system over public telephone lines with ordinary touch-tone phones.
"For the first time in 70 years, Connecticut citizens with disabilities will be truly welcome at the polls, and they will have the opportunity to vote privately and independently," Bysiewicz said. "This is a tremendous step forward for our state."
The University of Connecticut will help to certify and test the new voting systems. Bysiewicz said the state will enter a formal partnership with the school's computer science and engineering department to review vendor proposals, test equipment and make general recommendations about electronic voting.
Voting-rights activists applauded the announcements. In a letter to Bysiewicz, Michael Fischer of the group TrueVote CT said he was relieved the state decided not to purchase touch-screen voting machines, which he said are expensive and unreliable.
"Even with voter-verified paper trails, we were afraid of [touch-screen] machines because of their initial and ongoing costs, complexity, unreliability and security difficulties," Fischer said. "We advocated optical-scan machines as the best available technology and got it."
He said the state will benefit immensely from the technical expertise offered by its new partners at the university. He said Bysiewiscz' office has lacked such expertise in the past, often straining his group's conversations with election officials.
"I think we have to take this as essentially a complete victory," he said.
In other Connecticut voting news, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday announced he would launch an investigation into whether hackers disrupted the campaign Web site of Sen. Joseph Lieberman during a Democratic primary election.
Lieberman filed a complaint Tuesday afternoon, alleging that his site and e-mail were inappropriately accessed. Campaign officials accused his opponent, former cable executive Ned Lamont, of masterminding a scheme to close the site. Lamont won the primary, but Lieberman has pledged to run as an independent candidate in the general election this November.
"I will investigate potential violations of anti-hacking provisions of our state computer-crimes laws that are specifically within my jurisdiction," Blumenthal said. "I will also work with the State Elections Enforcement Commission, and state and federal criminal authorities concerning possible violations of state election statutes, and federal election protections and other laws. We will seek civil and criminal penalties, where appropriate."
Wisconsin Tracks Non-Compliant Sex Offenders
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle on Tuesday announced that law enforcers have located a group of the state's most wanted sex offenders and hundreds of others who have refused to comply with the state's sex-offender registry law.
The state launched a Web site this past May with a list of its most dangerous sex offenders as part of a felony apprehension and enforcement initiative. Doyle said 17 of the offenders on the list have been located, and he urged citizens throughout his state to review the information on the site so those still at large are arrested. He also directed the state's Department of Corrections to target 20 other individuals who meet the "most wanted" criteria.
"Wisconsin has cemented its status as a national leader in tracking down and monitoring sex offenders, but there is still more work to do," Doyle said in a statement. "We must not rest until we've made it impossible for sex offenders to move undetected through our neighborhoods."
Doyle also announced that teams of retired law enforcers and sex-offender registry experts have tracked 850 people who refused to provide information for the database.
Elsewhere, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week touted a series of initiatives to protect children from sexual predators and other online hazards. During her weekly radio address, Granholm said a series of recent child-safety programs, including one to shield children from inappropriate e-mails, will be followed by future initiatives.
"It doesn't matter if you're walking your children to the school bus or driving them to college, keeping our kids safe is a goal we all share as parents," Granholm said. "That's why we've worked hard over the last three years to enact tough, common-sense policies that will keep our kids safe."
N.H. Lawmakers Back Grant For Driver's Licenses
New Hampshire lawmakers on Tuesday voted to accept a $3 million grant for a pilot program of a federal law mandating nationwide standards for driver's licenses.
The State House Legislative Fiscal Committee authorized the grant to test the so-called REAL ID Act. Kentucky also has been chosen to test the statue.
The move in New Hampshire is a vast departure from a proposal the legislature considered earlier this year to make the Granite State the first in the country to reject the law. Critics of the statute have argued that it is an unfunded mandated imposed upon state governments. Privacy advocates also have voiced concerns about the statute.
But the arguments did not prompt the New Hampshire Senate to authorize a bill to reject the law this past spring. Several lawmakers earlier this year cited the loss of grant funding as a primary reason they did not favor rejecting REAL ID.
The grant funding still requires the approval of Gov. Jim Lynch and the state Executive Council.
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