Arizona Court of Appeals Ruling on Chavez v. Brewer
posted on: Jul 29 2009
Tuscon Region, July 22 2009
Critics who contend that touch-screen voting machines are not reliable will get a chance to make their case in court.
The Arizona Court of Appeals unanimously rejected arguments by attorneys for the secretary of state and county election officials on Tuesday that the decision to certify machines manufactured by Diebold Elections Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems cannot be challenged.
Judge Philip Hall, writing for the court, said it is proper for courts to consider the issue of whether the machines comply with Arizona law.
The following opinions were issued by the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 1:
To read more about Legal Action in Arizona, Click Here.
No, John McCain did not come in second to Mitt Romney in Cochise County.
A computer glitch that kept counting five polling places over and over again — for five times — caused the reporting error through late Tuesday night, Cochise County Election Office Tom Schelling said
Arizona, which had been an all paper ballot, optical scan voting state, entered into contracts in December 2005, with major voting system vendors for the purchase of DRE voting equipment. In May 2006, a group of Arizona voters filed a lawsuit in Arizona Superior Court in Phoenix against Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer seeking to prevent the use of this DRE voting equipment on the grounds that it violated state constitutional and statutory requirements protecting broad access to voting and ensuring accuracy in vote recording and tabulation.
The Yuma County Elections Department expects to receive its paper ballots for the Sept. 12 primary sometime this week. But for the first time, some voters won't need them anyway.
Voters will have the opportunity to cast their votes on Diebold AccuVote-TSX touchscreen voting machines. One unit will be at each of the 42 county polling places and one at the Yuma County Recorder's Office, mainly for use by disabled voters, in accordance with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
"From the voter side, I think it's really easy to operate," said Yuma County Elections Director Patti Madrill.
By Erica Meltzer | Arizona Daily Star
To the sound of hisses and boos from the audience, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to buy voting equipment from Diebold Elections Systems.
The county is buying the machines with $2 million in federal money to comply with the Help America Vote Act, which requires that the disabled be able to vote in private without assistance.
Critics say the machines are too easy to tamper with and could lead to election fraud.
As part of a motion made by Supervisor Ramon Valadez, county election workers will do their own tests on the machines, and the supervisors will vote again on whether to use the machines in the September primary.
Valadez said the supervisors were advised that if they didn't comply with federal law, the county might be ordered to
buy the same machines with county rather than federal funds.
To an increasingly large extent, "those who count the votes" in the United States are privately owned corporations, not our election officials. In fact, Arizona law prevents election officials and workers from manually counting ballots or auditing elections results.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/132967
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."
Joseph Stalin
To an increasingly large extent, "those who count the votes" in the United States are privately owned corporations, not our election officials. In fact, Arizona law prevents election officials and workers from manually counting ballots or auditing elections results.
Pima County will buy voting machines for the disabled despite lingering questions about their reliability.
The county needs the Diebold machines to comply with the federal Help Americans Vote Act. The law requires such a system at each polling place, county officials said Tuesday.The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to spend $2.1 million for the machines, which are expected to serve disabled voters in the fall elections. The state will reimburse the county for the purchase.
Supervisors Sharon Bronson, Ann Day and Ramón Valadez voted in favor.
Questions about the accuracy and security of the Diebold system made the purchase a tough decision, the three said.
But the county risked violating federal law and losing its reimbursement for the machines.
By Erica Meltzer | Associated Press
To the sound of hisses and boos from the audience, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to purchase voting equipment from Diebold Elections Systems.
The county is purchasing the equipment with $2 million in federal money to comply with the Help America Vote Act, which requires that disabled voters be able to vote in private without assistance. But critics say the machines are too easy to tamper with and could open the door to election fraud.
Full Story:
http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/dailystar/132424.php
A court battle is on over two types of electronic voting systems being bought for use by disabled voters. The suit seeks to stop Arizona's Secretary of State and 13 counties including Pima County from buying the machines.
Chuck Blanchard, one of the attorneys for voter plaintiffs, says, "We have machines that are unreliable, that are hackable, that are prone to mistakes."Lowell Finley, another attorney for voter plaintiffs, adds, the machines "have security flaws and holes in them that make possible tampering with election results."
For over a year, Tucson activist John Brakey has researched potential problems with electronic voting machines. For him the suit is a victory.
Brakey calls it "justice." When Brakey even considers that a voting equipment malfunction might mean his vote wouldn't count, he's moved to tears.
