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Md. Official Resists Call to Change Voting System |
By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 17, 2006; Page B08
The state's top elections official declared her confidence in
Maryland's voting machines yesterday and said that changing systems
seven months before the primary election would be a "catastrophe" and a
waste of money.
Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone's comments came one day after
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) questioned the reliability of the
state's touch-screen machines and called for a system that provides a
paper record to verify election results.
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. questioned the state's touch-screen machines and called for a paper process.
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. questioned the state's touch-screen machines and called for a paper process. (Chris Gardner - AP)
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Since 2002, Maryland has paid more than $45 million to phase in
electronic voting across the state. The security of the machines,
manufactured by Diebold Election Systems, has since come under
scrutiny, with critics saying computer hackers could manipulate
election results.
"We've spent a lot of money on the system, and we're literally going to
be throwing it all away," Lamone testified at a hearing on legislation
that would require vote verification technology for the upcoming
election. "I think you are asking for a catastrophe if you try to
change."
Top Democratic lawmakers also criticized what they called Ehrlich's
"last-minute endorsement" of paper ballots and called the governor's
concerns inconsistent with his prior support for the Diebold machines.
At issue is voter confidence in election results in the aftermath of
the 2000 presidential election and the adoption of new electronic
voting machines across the country. More than two dozen states now have
some requirement for paper vote verification.
Sen. Paula C. Hollinger (D-Montgomery) has tried for two years to require a system in Maryland that can deliver a paper audit.
"There are people that don't feel that full confidence in our system,"
she said. "It's up to us to try to give the voters in the state
confidence."
The September primary would be the first election in which all Maryland
jurisdictions use the touch-screen machines. But some lawmakers in both
parties yesterday suggested leasing for one year optical scan machines,
which use paper ballots.
Diebold officials sought to reassure legislators that the security
questions raised in other states, such as California and Florida, were
irrelevant to the operation of the machines in Maryland. Meeting behind
closed doors with lawmakers, the director of Diebold's election
systems, Mark Radke, said he told them "our system has proven to be
very accurate."
"It's disturbing to see some of the false information being
distributed, because Maryland has proven to have the most accurate
voting in the country," he said.
Radke and former Maryland secretary of state John T. Willis cited a
report from the California Institute of Technology and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology that showed Maryland had the
lowest rate of voter error in 2004.
Willis, who has studied Maryland elections for 30 years, called
concerns about the touch-screen machines "technological hysteria."
Advancements in technology, he said, have reduced -- not increased --
the likelihood of mistakes.
House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Senate President
Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said they were "deeply concerned"
about the governor's lack of confidence in the board and endorsement of
a vote verification system. The cost of switching to such a system,
they said, would be $25 million to $50 million.
"This statement could unjustifiably undermine public confidence in the
integrity of the state election process," Busch and Miller wrote in a
letter to Lamone, asking her to respond quickly to the governor's
questions.
Some of the concerns have arisen from a recent test in Florida, where a
computer specialist succeeded in hacking into a Diebold machine. That
prompted California to review the security and reliability of its
Diebold machines.
In Maryland, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly also forced
through legislation last month, over the governor's veto, that will
allow voters to cast ballots in the week before an election.
Sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) said early voting raises new
questions about whether the machines can be secured at multiple sites
for multiple days and how elections officials can protect against
voting at more than one polling place. "All kinds of questions have
come up," he said. |
