Dear Elected Officials,

More than eight months after the November 2004 General Election, major questions about the performance of the state’s electronic voting machines remain unanswered:

• Montgomery County ’s information technology report for the November 2004 General Election shows that 7% of their machines failed on election day, and an additional 5% were “suspect.” What assurance do we have that the root cause of these machine failures will not also affect the rest of the state’s DREs? Who will pay for the repair and replacement of these machines if this happens?

• Baltimore County experienced problems so severe that they were unable to report precinct results on election night. The results for Baltimore County certified by the state in December, 2004, report 20,000 more votes in the presidential race than Baltimore County ’s official results certified in February, 2005 . Exactly what problems did Baltimore County experience, and what accounts for the huge differences between the official tallies?

Despite these troubling questions, the State is poised to spend $9.2 million to equip Baltimore City with the same AccuVote-TS voting system. The State of Maryland has yet to answer these questions or convince me that our electronic voting system will function correctly in future elections. I urge you to:

• Conduct a full investigation of what really happened in Maryland in the Primary and General Elections in 2004;
• Require the State Board of Elections to fully disclose all documents related to the performance and repair status of voting equipment during the 2004 elections; and
• Either halt the deployment of the Diebold system in Baltimore City or at the very least, get the newest Diebold machines that are equipped with a voter-verified paper audit trail.

A full investigation, utilizing these important documents, is the first step towards restoring widespread confidence in our election process. If the SBE is to move forward in its deployment of the machines – against the wishes of Baltimore City officials – at the very least the City should be equipped with the most current Diebold system which includes a voter-verified paper ballot and audit trail. This will enable meaningful recounts, and help safeguard voter confidence in election legitimacy.

Our democracy rests on counting each vote fairly and accurately. Thank you for ensuring the integrity of our election process.

Sincerely,

A concerned citizen of Maryland,

Name

Address

CC: Administrator Lamone and State Board of Elections

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