Trenton,
NJ – The New Jersey Voting Machine
Examination Committee has rejected immediate
certification of voter verified paper record
systems for electronic voting machines in
use in 20 of the state’s 21 counties,
recommending a number of fixes before the
machines could be used in elections. The
committee said the systems met core criteria,
but certain shortcomings needed to be corrected
before approval.
Attorney General Anne Milgram accepted the
committee’s findings, declaring that
before certification the voting machine
vendors will have to correct problems identified
by the committee and scientists at the New
Jersey Institute of Technology who independently
tested the machines earlier this summer
for the Attorney General and the Division
of Elections.
In addition, the Attorney General said the
equipment will have to be retested by NJIT
after changes are made. “I agree with
the examination committee’s report,
and I expect the voting machine companies
to follow the committee’s recommendations,’’
Milgram said. “Any changes made will
go back to NJIT for further testing.’’
“We
are fully committed to protecting the integrity
of our elections in New Jersey,’’
Milgram added. “The public demands
full confidence in the process, and we want
to ensure a paper trail that is accurate,
reliable and can be audited.’’
The
Voting Machine Examination Committee found
that the three voting machines tested met
the significant core requirement of electronic
records in the machine matching the paper
records, and said the machines, in general,
are suitable for use in elections. The committee
found the electronic vote, the paper ballot,
a bar code and internal memory were in sync.
But certain shortcomings needed to be corrected,
the committee concluded.
The
three machines tested by NJIT and assessed
by the Voting Machine Examination Committee
were the Sequoia Advantage, which is used
by 18 counties, the Sequoia Edge, which
is used in Salem County, and the Avante
Vote Trakker, which is used in Warren County.
(NJIT has begun testing the ES&S machine
used in Sussex County.)
The
Voting Machine Examination Committee held
hearings for three days in July to listen
to testimony from the NJIT scientists, voting
machine vendors, and members of the public.
The three member examination committee is
headed by Richard C. Woodbridge, a patent
attorney from Princeton. The other members
are Darryl Mahoney, an assistant director
for the voting machine division of the Bergen
County Superintendent of Elections, and
John Fleming, a management information specialist
in the New Jersey Department of Law and
Public Safety.
The
committee cited 10 problems with the Sequoia
Advantage machine, including the fact the
printers needed to be sealed with locking
mechanisms and the mechanical error messages
were not specific enough if, for example,
there is a paper jam. The committee also
said there was too little time for a voter
to verify his or her vote on the third and
final ballot. (The voter verified paper
record systems allow voters to recast ballots
up to three times if they find they have
miscast a vote, or failed to cast a ballot
for a particular office or missed a ballot
question.)
Among
the problems cited with the Sequoia Edge
machine were power and data cables that
were not shielded to guard against tampering.
The committee also recommended that each
printer cartridge have a seal that can only
be broken after an election. As with the
Advantage machine, the committee said there
may not be enough time for a voter to verify
his or her selections on the third paper
record.
For
the Avante Vote Trakker, the committee said
the storage unit on some machines needed
to be replaced or repaired so that unauthorized
paper cannot be slipped into the storage
unit. The committee also said the voter-verified
paper record system needed to be equipped
with a warning system to notify polling
officials when there is a malfunction, and
voting operations should be suspended if
there is a disconnect between the voting
machine and the printer.
In
May, the Attorney General’s Office
contracted with NJIT’s Center for
Information Technology in Newark to test
the systems that produce paper records that
can be verified by voters before casting
their ballots. It was the first time in
the state’s history that the state
has directly contracted with computer experts
to conduct independent testing as part of
a certification process. Prior to the agreement,
the state relied on reports from national
independent testing authorities.
New
Jersey law requires that all electronic
voting machines produce individual permanent
paper records for each vote cast no later
than Jan. 1, 2008. The paper record will
be the ballot of record in the event of
recounts, according to the state’s
law.
Direct electronic voting machines with voter-verified
paper record systems include printers and
a display unit that allows voters to view
their votes before recording their electronic
ballots. No vote will be recorded until
the paper record is viewed and approved
by the voter. If a voter rejects the contents
of the paper record, he or she may recast
a ballot up to two additional times.
The
paper receipts must be stored securely in
the machine. Voters do not leave the voting
booths with copies of their votes, and the
paper receipts will not identify voters.
>
AG's
Determination & Voting Machine Examination
Committee Reports
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