Is it Possible to have Fair and Accurate Elections in Fresno?

Is it Possible to have Fair and Accurate Elections in Fresno?
By Mike Rhodes
November 4, 2006

Amy Goodman had a segment on Democracy Now! earlier this week. It was called Hacking Democracy: New Documentary Exposes Vulnerability of Electronic Voting Machines. This was followed by a new HBO documentary, shown on Thursday, exposing the vulnerability of electronic voting machines. Most of the people I know are concerned about the new electronic voting machines and are wondering if their votes will be accurately counted in next Tuesday’s election.

Fresno County uses Diebold machines to count the votes. Two types of machines are used - there is a touch screen machine and an optical character reading (OCR) machine. Most of the ballots are counted using the OCR machines, which scans a paper ballot, therefore leaving a paper trail. That is important, because with the OCR machine it is possible to cross check the results between the machine count and the paper ballots. Before the election is certified by Victor Salazar, the County Clerk/Registrar of Voters, staff members randomly check 1% of the machine count against the actual paper ballots. If they find a discrepancy a broader sampling would be taken and the election results would not be certified until the problem was resolved.

Currently, over 50% of voters in this county send in their ballots by mail. These absentee ballots are not currently cross checked with the OCR machine count. Kathy McClue, the assistant Registrar of Voters, says "our department will begin cross checking the paper absentee ballots with the machine count in 2008." But, until then, over ½ of the ballots cast in Fresno County are run through Diebold OCR machines and there is no way of knowing if the count is accurate.

Then there are the touch screen machines used by Fresno County. These machines, until now, have received very little use. McClue said that only a couple hundred votes were cast on them in the last election (June 2006). There is one touch screen machine in every precinct to enable voters with a disability to more easily vote. These machines have also been used this year in outreach efforts to get voters to cast their ballots early at locations like California State University - Fresno.

Critics however say the machines are unreliable and do not provide an adequate paper trail. Fresno County is being sued by Voter Action for their use of the Diebold touch screen voting machines. Chuck Krugman, a Democratic Party activist in Fresno, is part of the lawsuit. Krugman said that there "is much controversy in the disability community about the machines as there is a segment of the community that believes that the need for disabled voters to vote independently and privately outweighs the need for a verifiable vote count. I for one do not hold that belief and feel that the verifiable paper trail outweighs the need to vote independently or privately."

Juan Witrago, the Systems and Procedures Analyst at the County Clerks Department, says that there is a paper trail in the touch tone machines. He showed me a thermal printer unit, which is in each machine. The printer provides a record of each vote cast. How do we know that the printer and the touch screen machine accurately reflects the voters choice? Witrago says "the machines are tested before they are sent out to the precincts."

Witrago and a small crew of co-workers are responsible for counting all of the votes on election day. Actually, they are busy counting absentee ballots already, but the result of that count will not be known until after 8 PM on November 7. The absentee ballots pour into the elections department in the weeks and days leading up to the election. Each envelope they receive has a barcode containing voter identification information. That barcode is scanned, the voters ID on the database is brought up, and the signature on the outside of the envelope is compared to the original voter registration signature. If both signatures match, the absentee envelope is opened, and the ballot is run through the Diebold scanner.

At 8 PM on November 7 the County Clerks Department will begin counting ballots, starting with the absentee ballots that have already been loaded into the system. With a push of the button, we will instantly have over ½ of the results. Next, the data storage cards from the precincts will start to arrive. Witrago says that there are several security measures in place to prevent fraud. The data storage cards are sealed to prevent them from being tampered with. Witrago will open the seal after they are brought into the County Clerks Department on election night. From there the cards are taken into a protected and isolated room where the data is downloaded into the election’s department server. The room has no phone lines, wireless, or other connections with the outside world. This is done to eliminate someone from hacking the vote.

There will be a near final vote count as soon as the data storage cards from all of the precincts are counted. In a few days, after all challenged and/or provisional ballots are counted, we will be one step closer to a final count. Any person who goes to a precinct and is told they are not on the voter registration roles has the right to cast a provisional ballot. The ballot will be counted, if the person is a registered voter. Within a week or two of election day, Victor Salazar will certify the election.

Last June, during the primary election, only 32.45% of registered voters in Fresno County cast a ballot. There are many people who live here that are not registered to vote. Therefore, the actual percentage of voters is even lower than what it appears. For example, in Fresno City Council District 3, there are about 65,000 residents. In the June 2006 election, the incumbent Cynthia Sterling, won with only 2,459 votes. There were only 4,071 total votes cast in the District 3 election. District 3 is perhaps the most impoverished area of town, in a city that has the highest concentration of poverty in America. See the Brookings Institute Report. The real threat to democracy might not be Diebold voting machines, but voter apathy and disenfranchisement.

The touch screen voting machines brought to CSUF are not taken to places like the Fresno County jail, where many people are eligible to vote, but can’t get to their polling place. Voting machines are not taken to the Poverello House or other areas where Fresno’s large homeless population live. While the exact number of homeless people in Fresno County is hard to pinpoint, there are by the most conservative estimates at least 5,000. A study done by the Continuum of Care a few years ago put the number at closer to 20,000. Most of the homeless live in downtown Fresno. If the homeless had voted in the June election, they could have elected their own City Council member in District 3.

Still, many people are more concerned about voting machines, than the disenfranchisement of the poor and working people in this community. To find out more about how to make electronic voting reasonably safe, the Brennan Center for Justice has done an exhaustive study and has recommendations for how to safely use this technology. A copy of their report can be found at their website.

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