Essex County Freeholder meeting on July 13th,

[FogerRox]

The Freeholders can tell Peter Harvey to move on Certifying optical scanners. please go tp the meeting and use the 3 minutes you get to tell they should tell Peter Harvey to move his ass.

Essex County may find itself in the position of not wanting to purchase voting equipment as mandated by the Federal law HAVA (the Help America Vote Act of 2002). HAVA money is expected to pay 75% of the cost of new voting Machines. Essex County Superintendent of Elections Carmine Casciano has recomended a full face touchscreen voting machine, because the large ballot presentation is similar to the lever machines that Essex voters are used to, making the transition from lever voting machines to large screened touchscreen voting machines easier for the voter.

Its up to the Attorney Generals office to certifiy voting machines for purchase by counties in New Jersey. Of the six voting machines certified, the Attorney General has only certified one full face voting machine.

18 states, incuding New Jersey, have passed some form of voter verified paper record (VVPR) law. Another 7 states are considering a VVPR law, . The Sequoia Advantage, the only full face voting machine certified in New Jersey, has no printer available for it. With half the nation moving towards VVPR law and New Jersey passing its own VVPR law (S29 & A33), the actions of the AG seem counter intuitive.

The federal certification process is run by a group know as NASED. NASED qualifying systems, under the 2002 standards, includes optical scanners and touchscreens with and without printers. The Attorney General has not certified any optical scanners for use in New Jersey. Optical Scanners are the sole voting system in major urban areas such as Boston and Los Angeles. In New Jersey, we can only choose from 6 touchscreen or direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines.

I hope the Attorney General is aware that optical scanners have a 20 year service life. And that optical scannners have a 10 fold advantage in ballot processing speed (up to 360 ballots per hour) and lower operating costs than DREs. Since paper ballots are scanned thru an optical scanner, we are starting with a paper ballot. Why even consider spending 7.5 million dollars to buy compterized voting equipment, just to have it print out a voter verified paper record. Why dont we spend 4 million on optical scanners that start with a paper ballot. After the long lines in Ohio and Florida last November, we don't need to be buying the same sort of voting system for New Jersey.

Optical scannners are HAVA compliant and represent a mature technology. Why has the AG forced NJ counties to choose from the most expensive possible voting system available? The Seqouia Advantage is certified to the 1990 Federal standards, not the current 2002 standards, and may not be eligible for federal funds (HAVA). Additionally the Sequoia Advantage by not meeting the federal 2002 standards, can't be used in a federal election. In times of Federal, State & County deficits, New Jersey counties should be allowed to make the fiscally prudent choice.

The New Jersey certification process of voting equipment does in no way reflect real world priorities. Peter Harvey should move now to certify optical scanners that are already federally certified, and he should certify touchscreen voting equipement that is full faced and has a printer to be compliant with the new state law. Montana and Vermont have banned digital ballots, It seems that Peter Harvey wants us to vote with digital ballots. Last year 35% of voters used optical scanners. In N.J. 17 out 21 counties use optical scanners for absentee ballots.

The Essex County Freeholders are between a rock and a hard place They are responsible for funding and selection of voting equipment for Essex County, and are not happy with the choice of voting equipment presented to them by the Attorney General, as indicated by the 5 to 3 vote on June 9th, to not Issue a bond to pay for new voting equipment. The Attorney General should update the certification of voting equipment in New Jersey so that Essex and 5 other counties are not forced to buy voting equipment they dont want, voting equipment that has no VVPR printer and might be illegal to use after 2008. 3 counties in Florida recently announced that they are getting rid of their 3 year old touchscreen voting eqiupment, and buying optical scanners. Peter Harvey might want to look at the rational behind those counties decisions.

The Attorney General should give the freeholders what they want, a choice. The Attorney General should give the people what they want, a choice, not the same computerized voting machines that caused so many problems last November.

Roger Fox
N.J. Voting Issues Project
[e-mail]

[emcguffie]

1. Maybe you've answered your own question.

I could be very wrong, of course, but could you have answered your own question?

"Optical scannners are HAVA compliant and represent a mature technology. Why has the AG forced NJ counties to choose from the most expensive possible voting system available?"

Could there be some pay-off for the AG? I have to tell you, Roger, the way Carmen behaved made me very suspicious.

[FogerRox]

2. Carmine well maybe-- the Attorney General---yes.

Carmine is doing what he is told, this all comes down from the AG, Peter Harvey.

[FogerRox]

3. Vote no -- on the bond issue

Tell the Freeeholders to ask the AG, Peter Harvey to certify OPTICAL SCANNERS. EAch memeber of the public will get 3 minutes to speak.

Vote the bond down

we want opscanners, that use paper ballots