by David Ammons | May 21st, 2009
New vote-tabulation equipment in Washington’s two largest counties soon will get emergency certification from the Secretary of State.
The State Voting Systems Review Board, meeting in Seattle on Thursday, unanimously recommended a provisional green light while awaiting federal certification, which is in the final stages. For Pierce County, it’s for renewal of last year’s emergency certification of Sequoia equipment for “ranked choice voting” for county offices. For King, it’s certification of Premier election equipment that is much, much faster than the old system.
State Elections Director Nick Handy was pleased with the vote, and said Secretary Reed will sign the necessary paperwork soon, probably next week. “This has been a very long journey for King County to get a modern, efficient, cost-effective system that is responsive to the needs of one of the largest, most complex voting jurisdictions in America. Our office has been very impressed with the thorough, rigorous testing. Over 1.5 million ballots have been run through the machinery (in tests during) in the last three months, and we are satisfied that this system will be able to handle King County and its 39 cities and over 150 different jurisdictions.”
Handy says the U.S. Election Assistance Commission is expected to release lab test results by June 9 and final certification after that. With the state’s blessings, the new tabulation equipment will be used in the August 18 primary for county executive and other offices in the county. A relieved King County Elections Director Sherril Huff said the old equipment has been used in 63 elections and has outlasted its usefulness. The population boom and “increased complexities” has made the switch even more essential, she says. The equipment was financed with a federal grant.
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I provided the following tribute to voting activist John Gideon at the Voting Systems Certification Review Board Hearing on May 21st.
Here is what I said -
I’d like to begin by noting that there is a seat empty today.
John Gideon provided input on this certification, and planned to be here. He died suddenly at the end of April.
John co-founded VotersUnite.Org – an organization here in Washington dedicated to fair and accurate elections, in our state and nationwide.
John’s special interest was Voting System Certifications. He was very involved in certifications in our state. As a matter of fact, he made my job much harder – requesting detailed information on our state testing and certification hearings. He helped define our standards for transparency, which we are now very proud of.
I considered John a friend. He has left a huge hole – and he will be missed.