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Douglas M. Duncan
County Executive, Montgomery County
George Leventhal
President, Montgomery County Council
Dear County Executive Duncan and Council President
Leventhal,
Documents received from litigation between citizens of
Maryland and the State Board of Elections have revealed the use of an
uncertified voting system in Montgomery County in the March, 2004 primary, in
violation of Maryland law. Maryland
Election Law Article 9-102(c) requires the use of certified voting
systems. A series of letters between
the State Board of Elections (BOE) and Diebold, the maker of our voting system,
posted at:
http://truevotemd.org/content/view/430/61/ [under Exhibit 7]
admit the use of illegal, uncertified software in 2004.
The State Board discovered the lack of certification in
December of 2003 and withheld payment to Diebold. Subsequent letters talk of an oral agreement to pay half of the
invoice at the completion of delivery of the machines and the other half when
proof of certification is finally received.
The letters reveal that this proof was not received until June 8, 2004
and not confirmed by State examination until July 1, 2004. Diebold was paid the second half of the
amount due on July 2, 2004.
The series of letters continues until December of 2004, when
the State BOE Procurement Officer denied Diebold’s claims for interest on the
amount of money that was withheld from the original invoice. All through the letters, repeated reference
is made to the specific laws of Maryland that require the use of certified
voting systems. The State Board cited
these laws and specific contract language as the reason why payment was being
withheld.
These revelations call into question the role of our own
local Board of Elections, Administrators and technical staff in the use of this
uncertified voting system for our elections in 2004. The citizens of Montgomery County, whose taxes fund our local
Board of Elections, deserve a full investigation of this shocking
information. What did our local BOE,
Administrators and technical staff know about the use of uncertified
systems? Was the County Executive and
County Council advised about this? Was
our local BOE complicit in the use of this uncertified system or were they
compelled by the State BOE to use this system?
If they were unaware of the use of an uncertified voting system, were
they negligent in their responsibilities to the citizens of Montgomery County?
In addition to this admitted illegality, the rest of the
documents received from the litigation (Exhibits 1 – 6 at the above website)
show ongoing problems with the administration of our elections that rise to the
level of violations of Maryland Law and betrays public trust in our electoral
process. Article 9-102 of Maryland
Election Law stipulates that the voting system must count and record all votes
accurately and that the system must protect the security of the voting process. The documents from the Board of Elections,
however, revealed that citizens of Montgomery County have had votes lost
because of errors and malfunctions of the voting system and that the security
of the voting process is lax at best.
While any election system will inevitably have problems that
will result in errors and malfunctions, the imposition of a paperless
electronic voting system by our Board of Elections means that we have no
ability to recover lost votes when these problems occur and that we have no
ability to detect fraud if the security of the voting process has been
compromised.
Some members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections
have publicly advocated against the safeguard of a voter-verified paper audit
trail despite these documented problems with the election system. Transparency and accountability are the
foundations of our system of government and are essential to the integrity of
our elections. Is it proper for a
county-funded agency that administers our elections to advocate for an election
system that makes it impossible to ensure the accurate recording and counting
of all votes and that makes it impossible to audit or recount the election
results? Why has the Board hidden from
elected officials and the public, documents and information about the problems
that have occurred with the voting system?
Important elections will be held this year for every office
of County and State government.
Regardless of what type of voting system is used, the voters of
Montgomery County need reassurance that our Board of Elections will abide by
all Maryland Election Laws and inform the public of all problems with the
election system that could affect the accurate recording and counting of
votes.
The integrity of our voting system is the foundation upon
which public trust of our government rests.
The scandalous behavior by election officials in Maryland, cited above,
requires an immediate public inquiry by Montgomery County government about the
role of our local Board of Elections. I
look forward to hearing from you soon about when and where this public inquiry
will begin. If you have any questions,
please contact TrueVoteMD at our office, 301-270-6150.
Sincerely,
Robert Ferraro
TrueVoteMD.org
cc:Montgomery
County Council
Montgomery
County Delegation, Maryland General Assembly
Montgomery
County Board of Elections
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