Let Someone Else Code The Ballots!

Here’s a little story I found in The Sunday Independent, of October 16. There’s a picture and a short article about our clerk using “Unity Election Data Manager” so that our ballots can be prepared in the clerk’s office, rather than having someone else code the ballots. The clerk’s office is pleased that this new procedure saves our precincts time and money in ballot prep.

There are two things wrong with this picture.

First of all, “Unity Election Data Manager” is an ES&S product. You remember ES&S? Along with Diebold, they control over 80% of the black box voting in this country. Along with Diebold, their systems have failed performance & security tests many times. Like Diebold, they refuse to open the source code of their operating systems, which means that it’s illegal for people like you & me to look at the program to see how it works. If that’s not bad enough, both companies have been caught installing uncertified software to run their machines. Shiawassee voting systems should not be using ES&S or Diebold products to code or count the ballots.

Second, I have nothing personally against our Republican county clerk, but coding our ballots should not be the function of a partisan office.

I’m all for saving money, but I’m not fooled into thinking that this is a good idea because it saves money. It’s worth it to spend the extra money to have someone else code the ballots, even if it is just a symbolic gesture. Furthermore, I’m not sure it does save money … aren’t we adding more work to the clerk’s office? How much does that cost? Braid said that this reduces the cost per ballot from $.38 to $.21. Maybe if I give them $.50 I could buy a ballot I can trust.

Who made this decision anyway? I must not be paying enough attention because I didn’t know about this until I read it in the paper, after the decision had already been made.

“Wherever Diebold and ES&S go, irregularities and historic Republican upsets follow.” http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

More about the history of ES&S, Diebold, & the GOP: http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html