Glitches take toll

Election commission to mothball part of new voting system

Lou Kilzer, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 26, 2006 at midnight

Text size  

• 0 Comments
• Email
• Print

Denver's election commission has decided to mothball part of its controversial new voting system because of troubles that surfaced during August's primary.

The 50 card activators slated to be decommissioned - at least for the November election - came from Chicago, which sold them at a discount to Denver after a problem- plagued election there in March.

Denver paid $35,000 for the activators after Chicago began updating its voting system, said Alton Dillard, election commission spokesman. They are used in the city's 240 new Sequoia Voting Systems machines.

The election commission conceded that a significant number of problems surfaced in August - mainly with voters being given the wrong ballots.

The commission blamed the problems on poorly trained poll workers and human error.

John Gaydeski, the city's new election director, denied accusations by City Auditor Dennis Gallagher that the machines are unreliable.

But he said there isn't enough time before the Nov. 7 election to guarantee that the judges can be adequately trained to avoid a repeat of the problems.

Denver isn't tossing the activators or sending them back to Chicago for a refund. Instead, it will be determined later whether they can still be used.

The activators are a small but key part of the $1.4 million voting system. They produce cards - similar to a hotel key card - that are programmed to load the voting machine with the correct ballot for each voter.

Sequoia maintains that its machines performed well in Chicago, but the Cook County Clerk charged that they resulted in "glitches that involved delays with transmitting elections results, election judges having difficulty with new procedures and reports of malfunctioning voting equipment."

Auditor Dennis Gallagher wrote a letter to the commission last week, demanding to know what went wrong and who was responsible, saying he had information that the machines "may be flawed and not operable."

That prompted a fiery retort Monday from Gaydeski, who accused Gallagher of spreading misinformation.

"He's been issuing letter after letter with misinformation," Gaydeski said Monday.

He insisted that any problems related to inadequate training.

Gaydeski said that the process for programming the cards "was not user-friendly" but that the machines worked fine.

He said he is preparing for the "big game" on Election Day.

"This is just a distraction," he said.

Gallagher spokesman Denis Bercke-feldt replied heatedly, saying that the auditor's office has the power to decline payment on commission purchases.

"Mr. Gaydeski is accountable to the people," Berckefeldt said.

"If the machines are not working, we will start withholding payments."

Of assertions that the machines worked fine, Berckefeldt said flatly: "I believe they're lying."

Berckefeldt told the story of one voter, an office holder, who said his card produced a ballot with only one candidate and one election.

"He couldn't even vote for himself," he said.

The commission has decided to manually program the voting machines in November rather than using the cards, according to Dillard.

Voters also will be permitted to use older machines or send in absentee ballots, "not because of any concern with the machines, but simply due to the length of the November ballot."

The voting machines were purchased to comply with federal laws mandating improved voting access for persons with disabilities.

The adoption around the nation of new touch-screen machines meant to meet the federal standards has sparked controversy by groups fearing that they are not secure.

A Denver district judge ruled last week that Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis did a poor job of certifying that machines statewide are free from manipulation.

kilzerl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2644

Featured

• 2008 Voter’s Guide

  

  Use our Ballot Builder tool to compare your viewpoints to the candidates.

• A Dozen on Denver

  

  Sandra Dallas wrote 'Lennie's tavern' for our ongoing fiction series. Check it out!

• Rocky Multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on today's events.

• Bronco Dean's rant

  

  Listen to Bronco Dean's totally biased pregame rant about the Broncos-Jaguars game.

• Presidential Elections

  

  See how Colorado counties have voted through the years.

• County election profiles

  

  A look at how residents in each Colorado county may vote.

• A dream fulfilled

  

  A Rocky Mountain News and MediaStorm production

• Latest from Dove Valley

  

  Click for more broncos videos.

• Sam Adams' Open Mic

  

  No. 44 means a lot to Floyd Little