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LACKAWANNA
COUNTY CITIZENS EFFECT CHANGE IN COUNTY VOTING METHODS
March 5, 2008 In a unanimous
statement yesterday, the Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners
announced that it was dropping plans to purchase 600 touchscreen
voting machines from Premier Voting Solutions, Inc. (Diebold)
and moving ahead instead to buy precinct count optical scanners
and accessible ballot markers from the ES&S corporation.
Diebold, Inc., the parent company
of Premier informed the county that it could not agree to guarantee
the contract if Premier became insolvent.
Local citizen groups including
the Lackawanna County League of Women Voters, NEPA Mission Democracy,
and members of VotePA urged the Commissioners to choose precinct
count optical scanners and ballot markers when their county's
previous touchscreen voting system was decertified for use by
the state.
The citizen organizations pointed
out that in multiple states studies show totally electronic voting
machines (without paper ballots and audits of the results) may
be vulnerable to hacking, lost votes, and miscounted elections.
A US Government Accountability Office report recently recognized
that 18,000 lost votes in the 2006 Florida 13th Congressional
race would have been salvageable had paper ballots been used
instead of all-electronic DRE machines. Legislation pending
at the federal and state level would require the use of paper
records for all votes, potentially meaning that Lackawanna County
would have to switch systems again in the near future, its third
or fourth change of voting method in a handful of years.
In spite of the advocacy for
paper ballots by citizens and organizations, and the editorial
support by the Scranton Times-Tribune, the officials' initial
decision was to purchase Premier TSX touchscreen machines, including
some used units from other states, even though the TSX did not
offer any form of voter-verified paper audit trail or paper ballot
to preserve voter intent in the event of machine failure.
Following the Board's decision
to purchase the touchscreens, over a dozen Lackawanna voters
from the various organizations protested with a demonstration
in downtown Scranton o n a cold mid-February morning. Many more
people made calls to local radio talk shows and wrote Letters
To The Editor in addition to editorial Op-Ed pieces the Times-Tribune
itself generated.
In light of the uncertainty
about the Premier contract, and with pressure from citizens and
voters, the Board revisited its decision. On Tuesday, March 4
the Commissioners met to finalize and publicly announce a purchase
of precinct count scanners and highly accessible ballot markers
for voters with disabilities.
Regardless of the Lackawanna
County Commissioners' somewhat roundabout road, the scanner and
ballot marker purchase was widely applauded as a prudent use
of county and state resources, and a win for democracy.
Links to news stories on Lackawanna
voting machine decision:
3-9-08
With primary day in six weeks, voting official remains stalwart
by David Singleton, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19374552&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
3-7-08
Wrong reason, right results
Sometimes the side door is the best exit.
Editorial, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19368822&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
3-6-08
Advice to county: Practice before primary
by David Singleton, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19364503&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6
3-5-08
County scraps e-voting plans
by David Singleton, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19359763&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=15
3-4-08
Breaking News: Commissioners choose paper ballots 3:17 p.m.
by David Singleton, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19357488&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
3-4-08
WNEP Scranton
It's Paper Ballots for Lackawanna County Voters
http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=7964626
2-29-08
Editorial, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19344933&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
2-28-08
Voting machine talks stumble
by Gretchen M. Wintermantel, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19340164&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=15
2-27-08
Electronic lemons are hard to swallow
Citizen LTE by Len Gougeon, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19335469&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
2-22-08
Vote choice a clunker
Citizen LTE by Sarah O'Neil, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19321314&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
2-20-08
Repeating a mistake
Citizen LTE by Lucia Dailey, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19312412&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
2-19-08
Commissioners favor e-vote machines, despite protest (with video)
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19309213&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
2-17-08
E-vote system doubts linger
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19304351&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=15
2-17-08
Questionable Call
Citizen LTE by Niki Hannevig, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19304435&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
2-16-08
County votes for uncertainty
Editorial, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19302457&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
2-14-08
Voting Machines OK'd
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19294445&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6
2-13-08
Happening Now: County selects touch-screen voting machines 11:35
a.m.
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19291018&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
1-30-08
Checking box for paper ballot
Editorial, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19244951&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
1-29-08
Voters associations says paper ballots are best for primary
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19241051&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
1-20-08
No perfect voting solution for county
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19215186&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
1-16-08
County stresses need, not speed
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19201872&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
1-3-08
Bailout only part of answer
Editorial, Scranton Times Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19164152&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
1-3-08
County avoids cost of lawsuit
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19164137&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
1-1-08
New vote system funded
by David Singleton, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19159806&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
12-29-07
E-vote system banned
by David Singleton & Megan Reiter, Scranton Times-Tribune
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19154131&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=590572&rfi=8
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