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Gov. Expected to Sign Measure Returning N.M. Counties to Old Voting System
17 February 2006
By Jeff Jones, Journal Politics Writer | Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE— A bill that would return all New Mexico counties to
paper-ballot voting is headed to Gov. Bill Richardson's desk.

The Senate approved the controversial measure on a 22-18 vote after a
post-midnight debate early Thursday. The House had passed the same bill
during another predawn debate the previous morning, and Richardson has said
he supports the switch to paper ballots.

"The governor is very pleased," Richardson chief of staff Dave Contarino
said during a telephone interview later Thursday. Contarino added the bill
boosts "confidence in the future of New Mexico's voting."
During its trip through the Legislature, the bill was shorn of its
deadline date to convert counties to new paper-ballot voting systems. But
bill sponsor Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said Thursday she's hoping
people across New Mexico will be marking paper ballots by the November 2007
general election.

Richardson and other bill backers have said paper-ballot voting systems
will help restore the public's confidence in elections.

Opponents, however, questioned whether the systems are a true step
forward and insisted the costs will far exceed what supporters have said it
would be. They also maintained the bill amounts to an exclusive
multimillion-dollar state contract for a single manufacturer.

A separate bill approved by the Legislature earmarks $11 million for new
voting systems, and that money will be supplemented by millions more in
federal assistance.

The voting bill heading to Richardson mandates a "competitive bid
process" for the required election systems, pursuant to the state's
procurement code. The procurement code in some cases does allow sole-source
contracts.

Fact Checking The Opponents of Paper Ballots In New Mexico
12 February 2006
By Warren Stewart | VoteTrustUSA

With the support of Governor Richardson, Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, the proposal for a statewide paper ballot optical scan voting system in New Mexico is moving inexorably through the short state legislative session despite the best efforts of a coalition of opponents, notably lobbyists representing the voting machine vendor with the most to lose and a county clerk who has invested millions in their equipment, along with opposition party legislators. The Governor’s proposal that all voting systems in the state use a paper ballot marked by the voter is embodied in bills introduced in each chamber – HB 430 in the House and SB 295 in the Senate. Both bills worked their way through the committee process this week and are poised for floor votes.

To read the full article click here

There's Something About Mary
9 February 2006
By Marston Moore | Duke City Fix

Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera yearns to be New Mexico’s elections chief one day soon. She’s running for the office of Secretary of State in this June’s Democratic Primary. And a month ago, her chances in a crowded field of candidates appeared to be quite good.

That was until the current legislative session unfolded.

Today Mary Herrera’s candidacy looks to be on the verge of self-destructing. Inexplicably, she has positioned herself as a vehement opponent of election reform while at the same time vying for the nomination of a party full of angry activists - as well as mainstream leaders - who are clamoring for precisely the reform she is trying to block.

The cause of her downfall? Paper ballot elections – the movement for a verifiable paper trail to enable honest-to-goodness recounts in the case of a close electoral contest. Bills to enact such a change – one sponsored by Senator Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo) and the other by Representative Mary Helen Garcia (D-Dona Ana) – are moving forward.

The Democratic Party wants it. The Democratic Governor wants it. The Democratic Attorney General wants it. Twenty of her fellow county clerks have endorsed it. The Albuquerque Journal editorial page even gets it ("Paper Ballots Could Shore Up Confidence" - Jan. 16).

The opposition? On Herrera’s side is the Republican Party, KKOB talk show host and GOP mouthpiece Pat Frisch, and Sequoia Voting Systems – the manufacturer of the problem plagued touch-screen machines she has been buying for Bernalillo County. (Info on Sequoia here.)

Hardly the coalition one needs to win a Democratic Primary.

But Herrera has staked her career on defending her earlier decision to make election day in Bernalillo County an entirely touch-screen experience.

While the evidence continues to mount that this is one decision that cries out to be reconsidered, Mary has dug in her high heels. And whenever a bureaucrat lurches into an CYA mode, good judgment invariably goes out the window. Obstinancy fuels Herrera's advocacy of touch-screen technology.

Unfortunately, the slickest sales pitch and the flashiest technology doesn’t always spell the most appropriate technological solution. Running elections is not the same as running for prom queen.

To continue reading the article click here

Paper Trail Leads Toward Voter Confidence
6 February 2006
By Joyce Bartley and Santiago Juarez | VoterAction

To his great credit, Gov. Bill Richardson has proposed legislation that would establish a uniform voting machine system in New Mexico this year.

If the Legislature adopts his proposal, New Mexico voters will fill out paper ballots that will then be fed into optical scan voting machines. Although these machines will electronically tally the votes, all the voters' original ballots will be preserved for later random audits and, if necessary, recounts.

This system will allow New Mexico voters to know that their votes can be recounted by human beings, under the observation of representatives of the political parties, if a recount is demanded or i! f the required random check of results shows a problem with the vote count.

This is the result that those of us who have urged voting reform have fought so hard to achieve.

Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera and a few other county clerks have chimed in, claiming that the governor's initiative would create havoc in the next election. They claim that, because many poll workers will have to be trained on the use of optical scan machines, the new system will cause more problems than it will solve.

We believe that the clerks' concerns are exaggerated and are answered by the governor's proposal to budget additional monies for training of poll workers.

There are additional problems that the dissident clerks must address. The "old" machines with which poll workers are familiar are the Shouptronic machines on which most of us have been voting for many years.

They do not meet cur! rent state printer requirements or federal disability acce ss standards, set forth in the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and will therefore have to be jettisoned before 2007. So, the poll workers are going to have to be retrained on new voting machines in any event.

The only question is, which ones? In fact, before Richardson announced his plan, Herrera wanted to put at least one new touch screen machine in every Bernalillo County precinct before the next election, a machine on which most of the same poll workers would need to be trained.

One of us, Joyce Bartley, became involved in VoterAction after trying to vote on a touch screen machine in the 2004 election. The machine repeatedly switched the vote from my choice to the other candidate. No one knows how many other votes were switched unnoticed. Nor are the Sequoia Edge voting machines currently equipped with voter verifiable, auditable "paper trail" printers, as required by New Mexico law.

Notwithstanding all these prob! lems, the Secretary of State certified these machines for purchase by county clerks, along with the optical scan voting system the governor favors, which has better access features for disabled voters.

A majority of New Mexico's county clerks chose paper ballots and optical scan machines, even before the governor announced his plan to make this system uniform.

Herrera, however, still wants to buy Sequoia "Edge" touch screen machines.

Optical scan technology has been used for years in Bernalillo County and all other counties in New Mexico for the processing of paper absentee ballots. Recent advances in this technology have enhanced the accuracy and reliability of optical scanners, and if Herrera is really so concerned about the capabilities of our poll workers, she must consider the fact that optical scan systems are much simpler to use, training for them is simpler, and they are simpler to maintain than either the ! old Shouptronics or the Sequoia Edges.

Optical scan technology is no novelty, and it has apparently not been a source of significant problems. It is also worth noting that 11 counties in this state now use pure paper ballot systems that rely on optical scan technology.

Finally, of almost equal importance to the accuracy of vote counts is the importance of public faith in the accuracy of the counts. Some of our county clerks may think that optical scan machines will be more work for them. We disagree, but whatever impositions on the clerks these machines may entail pale by comparison with the importance to our democracy of people having faith in the process.

If people mark and cast an actual, physical ballot that they know will be preserved for any necessary recount, that faith will be restored. The governor's proposal will accomplish this important goal, in addition to assuring that the vote count is accurate.

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