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New Jersey Judge Urges E-Voting Strategy
by Michael Martinez
A New Jersey judge urged the state's top law enforcement officials to create an advisory panel of experts to manage an upgrade of the state's e-voting system.
The Star-Ledger reported this week that Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg said at a court hearing that the state relies too heavily on volunteers who lack the technical knowledge to operate the system without help from vendors.
Feinberg is examining a lawsuit demanding that the state adopt an e-voting system that also produces paper receipts of cast ballots. The Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic filed a lawsuit arguing that 18 of the state's 21 counties will not be able to meet a state deadline to adopt e-voting paper trails because the machines used there are not properly equipped to do so.
"What really concerns me is, at the end of the day, everyone wants a system with integrity," she said. "We don't want it to be vendor-driven. ... Technology standards today bode in favor of individuals with highly sophisticated computer technology backgrounds."
New Jersey First Assistant Attorney General Anne Milgram said her office is working on proposals to update the state's voting laws to address common concerns about e-voting. She said a series of public hearings would be held during the next two weeks and that the office plans on releasing standards and procedures for adopting e-voting paper trails.
Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic lawyer Penelope Venetis told The New York Times after the hearing that she liked what Milgram said but questioned the state's ability to follow through on its promises. "It is great that they are taking steps, but I am concerned that it is smoke and mirrors," she said. "I think the state is clearly concerned and doesn't want the judge to have an open hearing and go to trial on this."
In other e-voting news this week, Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman announced testing requirements for e-voting machines used in future elections. E-voting glitches were blamed for long lines that drove away voters from polling places in Denver last year. Election officials there withheld $50,000 in payments from Sequoia Voting Systems because of the technical problems they claim to have experienced with the company's equipment.
In a statement, Coffman said the new e-voting machines will have to pass 437 separate tests before they are cleared for use. The new rules were adopted in response to a state court order issued earlier this month.
Coffman also said the state is ready to receive recertification requests from the companies whose equipment the state already uses.
"The recertification process will be tough but fair," Coffman said. "My focus is on ensuring that the electronic machines used in our elections are secure, are able to accurately count every vote, and that the results can be verified. Electronic voting machines that meet this threshold will be certified for use in Colorado's elections."
Indiana Health Workers Warned Of Data Breach
The operators of Indiana's main government Internet portal warned this week that hackers recently accessed data on more than 70,000 healthcare workers.
The Office of Technology announced that an audit of a data breach reported earlier this year found that information on thousands of certified nurses and qualified medication and health aides was exposed when hackers illegally accessed the IN.gov site Jan. 3. Letters were sent to 71,000 individuals last week to warn them that their personal information had been compromised.
"Like thousands of Web sites, the state's site is constantly under attack from hackers," IN.gov Director Chris Cotterill said. "Despite our best efforts to use the highest levels of security to stop these attacks, this database was accessed illegally."
In a telephone interview, Cotterill said the state is working with the Justice Department to determine who hacked the site. He said the state also has determined that credit-card information on about 5,600 businesses and individuals has been exposed.
The state already has fixed the holes in the IN.gov site and implemented extra security measures to protect it from identity thieves, according to Cotterill. "We're doing everything we can to make sure people know about the breach and what they can do to protect themselves," he said.
Utah Repeals Portions Of Anti-Porn Law
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman this week signed legislation to repeal portions of a state law regulating sexual content on the Internet.
The measure, H.B. 5, repeals language that requires Internet service providers to give consumers tools to block adult content. It also repeals language establishing an adult content registry.
A coalition of advocacy groups, trade associations and service providers, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy and Technology, challenged the law in court two years ago. They said it amounted to broad censorship that imposed severe restrictions on constitutionally protected speech on the Web.
Those groups won a preliminary injunction in court last year. CDT said in a press release on Tuesday that the bill leaves in place other portions of the law considered unconstitutional. Litigation in federal court will continue.
E-Gambling Firm Cuts Deal With La. Officials
The online gambling firm Sportingbet has reached an agreement with law enforcers in Louisiana about warrants related to business it conducted there.
The Advocate reported this week that St. Landry Parish District Attorney Earl Taylor dropped charges against the company in exchange for $400,000 because extradition issues made the case too complicated to prosecute.
Former Sportingbet CEO Peter Dicks was arrested in New York in September on a Louisiana warrant. But Dicks was allowed to return to London, where the company operates, because New York only allows suspects to be extradited if they were physically present in the state where the alleged crime occurred.
"We were at the point where we couldn't get them here," Taylor said, adding that the state "tried to do something to make them pay."
He said his office will direct the money it received from Sportingbet to programs that investigate Internet-related crimes.
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