Secretary of State's Decision To Buy Diebold AccuVote Puts Connecticut's Mandatory Audit Provision In Question 

An Associated Press article is reporting that Connecticut will be replacing its lever machines this November with a Diebold AccuVote Optical Scanners. The state will meet the federal requirements for disabled accessibility with the Inspire Vote-By-Phone system provided by IVS of Louisville, KY. The IVS system will also be used in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, Oklahoma, and individual jurisdictions in other states.

Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz announced today that she has entered into a $15 million contract with LHS Associates of Methuen, Mass. At the announcement on Friday, Bysiewicz studiously avoided naming Diebold, LHS supplies only Diebold equipment so it is clear that Diebold’s equipment will be used. Just a week ago the Secretary of State had declined to give any details of the technology being conidered, telling the New Britain Herald "I'd love to tell you about the technology, but we're still sorting out the details." Bysiewicz also noted that local registrars of voters will have the choice of using the machines in the November election or the 2007 election.

Bysiewicz said her office decided against purchasing touch screen voting machines after hearing concerns from thousands of citizens, academics and advocacy groups about problems with the devices. "Touch-screen technology, in its current state of development, is simply not ready for 'prime time' here in Connecticut," she said.

Election activist were quick to notice that the choice of a paper ballot optical scan voting system was not anticipated when the state's election reform legislation S.B.55; Public Act 05-188; was signed into law on July 1, 2005. The law required that "not later than five business days after each election in which a direct recording electronic voting machine is used, the registrars of voters or their designees, representing at least two political parties, shall conduct a manual audit of the votes recorded on at least two direct recording electronic voting machines used in each assembly district." Optical scanners, of course, are not direct recording electronic voting machines. The possibility of a special session of the state legislature may offer the opportunity to address the audit issue. Otherwise it may have to wait until January.

The decision to purchase a paper ballot optical scan voting system represents a remarkable development in the Secretary of State’s thinking about voting technology since 2003, when she seemed determined to implement a statewide paperless touchscreen voting system. After working with the state’s Senior Senator Chris Dodd to defeat a voter verified paper record bill in the state legislature in 2004, she eventually came to embrace the need for independent verification when an even stronger bill passed the legislature unanimously last year.

The state had negotiated a contract with Connecticut-based Danaher Controls to provide voting machines that was terminated last December when it was discovered that the system was not federally certified. Bysiewicz initiated a new procurement process in January. The state was threatened with a lawsuit by the Department of Justice when it was suggested that the state continue using lever machines. The issue was eventually resolved and while lever machines will be used in Tuesday’s primaries, it now seems that most if not all of the state will be using paper ballots in November.