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Indiana Fines E-Voting Firm
by Michael Martinez
The top election official in Indiana has ordered an e-voting manufacturer to pay $360,000 for supplying equipment last year that violated state laws.
Secretary of State Todd Rokita has demanded that the firm MicroVote pay the fines as a penalty for nearly 200 state election law violations. After launching an investigation into the Indianapolis-based company in 2006, law enforcers found that it supplied uncertified machines to 47 counties.
Administrative Law Judge J. Lee McNeely found earlier this year that MicroVote marketed uncertified equipment during a period when the company's recertification application was still being examined by state election officials. He also found that MicroVote failed to disclose a technical problem with machines it provided to 47 counties last summer, all of which used the devices in primary elections earlier that year.
MicroVote has sued the state over the refusal of six counties to pay the company for the machines. A state judge has allowed that case to go to trial.
In other news, lawmakers in New York this week passed a proposal that will allow the state to continue using antiquated lever-style voting machines in elections this year.
A measure passed by the New York legislature waived a September deadline for voting jurisdictions to adopt new equipment. A 2002 federal law mandated nationwide voting system upgrades. The Justice Department sued New York last year over its failure to meet the deadlines imposed by the statute.
State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican, told Newsday this week that lawmakers want to avoid exacerbating the problem by shifting to another system too quickly. He said it is important that the state give itself enough time to test and certify machines in a "sensible way" before they are adopted.
Election officials in Connecticut, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction this week. Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz banned the use of lever machines in upcoming elections.
After conducting an extensive review of voting technologies, Bysiewicz's office has determined that optical scan devices are the best fit for the Nutmeg State in future contests. The state allowed 25 jurisdictions to use new optical scan machines during elections last fall.
"[Federal law] has provided the state with a unique opportunity to enhance the voting experience of the electors in the state of Connecticut through the use of a more reliable and efficient technology," Bysiewicz said in a letter to state and local lawmakers and election officials. "The new optical scan voting technology has been tested and proven reliable as long as proper security measures are taken."
Nevada Governor Accused Of Prompting FBI Raid
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has been accused of helping to initiate an FBI raid on the home of a software programmer who used to work for a firm that supplies military technologies.
In documents unsealed in federal court this week, software designer Matthew Montgomery claimed that Gibbons was behind a 2006 FBI search of his home. Montgomery is currently engaged in a legal dispute with eTreppid owner Warren Trepp, one of Gibbons' friends, over the intellectual property rights to software that the company sells to the U.S. military. Montgomery no longer works with the company.
The FBI already has initiated a probe into gifts that Gibbons, a Republican, received from eTreppid as a member of the U.S. House, where he served until the end of last year. The company received several secret military contracts while Gibbons was on Capitol Hill. A federal grand jury is currently investigating money, gifts and a cruise Gibbons allegedly received from eTreppid.
A pair of federal judges have determined that the raid on Montgomery's home was unconstitutional. Montgomery has accused Gibbons of initiating the raid by calling a U.S. attorney in Nevada and the FBI.
In an interview with The Reno Gazette-Journal, Gibbons dismissed Montgomery's claims as "concocted." He said Montgomery also fabricated claims in his lawsuit against Trepp.
N.J. Governor Corzine Pushes School Web Safety Plan
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine this week asked the top cop in the Garden State to work with public schools officials on a plan to ensure that teachers and administrators are more aware about Internet safety.
Corzine has ordered state Attorney General Ann Milgram and Education Commissioner Lucille Davy to develop and begin implementing new training programs on Internet safety by the fall. The programs will be designed to teach school officials more about how online sexual predators are threatening the safety of their students.
In a letter to Davy and Milgram, Corzine said it is a reasonable goal that the programs enter the implementation phase by the beginning of this year's school term.
"With all of the benefits that evolving technologies provide us, too many unfortunate opportunities exist for adults to exploit children through the use of the Internet or for children to otherwise experience dangerous situations as a result of the doors that technology has opened," the Democratic governor said.
According to The Express-Times, 141 registered New Jersey sex offenders were recently located on the social-networking site MySpace.
Pa. Prepares For Expiration Of 'Do Not Call' List
Pennsylvania's top law enforcer is trying to spread the word that his state's "do not call" list, which protects consumers from unwanted telemarketing, is about to expire.
State Attorney General Tom Corbett has launched a campaign to make Pennsylvanians aware that they will have to register again to keep their names on the list, which includes more than 4 million people. He has set up a page on his Web site that allows consumers to register in one step.
Pennsylvania's "do not call" list was established by a state law in 2002. Registration is only valid for five years. Under the law, consumers are allowed to shield themselves from telemarketers on up to seven residential and cellular telephone numbers.
In a consumer alert, Corbett called attention to the fact that his office also has posted relevant information about the list on his site. He said he hopes the resource helps to keep consumers informed about what they can expect from the program and how they can "keep their phone lines free of unwanted telemarketing calls and their dinners peaceful."
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