Seven Counties Dismissed From California Voters Lawsuit to Block Use or Purchase of Electronic Voting Machines

28 April 2006

California Voters marked their latest legal action today by lauding officials in seven California counties for their commitments to use or switch to all paper balloting rather than electronic voting systems. The Counties of Humboldt, Marin, Placer, San Luis Obispo, Trinity, Tulare, and Santa Barbara were dismissed today from the California Voters Lawsuit (Holder v. McPherson), supported by Voter Action, and filed in San Francisco Superior Court last month. The suit seeks to nullify Secretary of State Bruce McPherson's "conditional" certification authorizing purchase of the Diebold TSx electronic voting system -- which has a history of security, verifiability, and disability access problems -- for use in California elections.

"We applaud the counties leading California "back to the future," by selecting verifiable, all paper balloting over electronic voting systems with significant security problems, and the risk of fraud and vote manipulation," said Lowell Finley, Esq., co-director of Voter Action, and co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the California Voters Lawsuit. "These counties appreciate the importance of transparency and verifiability in clean elections. Diebold TSx electronic voting machines contain technology that is easily hacked and nearly impossible to audit or recount, and which is illegal under the California Elections Code."

"These California counties have made the right decision not to use touch-screen systems that put election integrity at risk and fail to accommodate voters with a range of disabilities as required by law," said John Eichhorst, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the California Voter's Lawsuit, and a partner in the San Francisco law firm, Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin, "No county benefits from risking election funds on expensive electronic voting systems that have acknowledged vulnerability and accessibility problems and fall short of satisfying legal requirements."

"Voters concerned with the integrity of our elections are gaining tremendous traction and we are pleased to be supporting them in California and in similar efforts in New York, Pennsylvania, Arizona and other states," said Holly Jacobson, Co-director of Voter Action.

The California Voters lawsuit was filed with support from Voter Action, a non-profit organization providing legal, research, and logistical support for grassroots efforts to ensure the integrity of elections in the United States. With members across the country, Voter Action recently led successful litigation in New Mexico to block purchase and use of the types of voting machines that are most error prone and vulnerable to tampering. For additional information, please visit http://www.voteraction.org.

Source: prnewswire

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