Maryland Fights to Keep E-voting

crystalattice writes "Apparently Maryland election officials never have computer problems. That's why they're fighting so hard to keep their Diebold e-voting machines. Washington Post reporter Marc Fisher received nothing but bad attitudes, dodges, and excuses when he attempted to discuss the issue with the state elections administration and Diebold." From the article: "I asked the state's elections administrator, Linda Lamone, whether Maryland wasn't just a bit too quick to adopt electronic voting. Doesn't the computer at your desk ever freeze up on you? 'No,' she replied. Never? 'No.' But surely people in your office have had that experience? 'No.' (Maybe we've found the solution to Maryland's voting problem: Everybody head on down to Linda Lamone's office, where the machines work 100 percent of the time.)"

Comments

They may have good reasons

[Anonymous Codger]

I live in Merlin. As I understand it, the following issues are affecting this decision:

1. The election officials don't believe that they can re-gear the process in time for the general election, which is only 6 weeks away. I certainly don't think they can pull it off, given their record so far.

2. The Democratic leadership is convinced that Republican Gov. Erlich is trying to suppress the vote in this majority Democratic state by raising fears about the process. They have good reason to believe this, as he has consistently fought efforts to make it easier for people to vote. Yesterday he urged everyone to use absentee ballots, yet last year he fought efforts to make it easier for people to use those ballots. He also vetoed a bill to allow early voting, which is popular in working districts (mostly Democratic) because some people have trouble getting to the polls on Election Day. When the legislature overrode his veto, he fought the law in court and won.

So as much as I hate and distrust the machines (I'm applying for an absentee ballot myself), I'm on the side of the Dem leadership and the election people (a bipartisan group).

Linda Lamone

[Irvu]

What is happening here is part of a long-running fight in the state of Maryland. The State elections director Linda Lamone. Linda Lamone has been nicknamed Ms. Diebold in some circles because of her tireless efforts on behalf of the company. Two years ago there was a massive push in the state house and senate for voter-verified paper records which Linda killed. Under Maryland's laws she has a great deal of power and independence.

Lamone was appointed by Democrats in the State House and has been backed by them even as she keeps giving them Hideous advice. Maryland's governor is a Republican and a great deal of this shoving back and forth over the machines has devolved to party wrangling. This is the interesting part about the whole e-voting situation. In some states poor systems are being instated and backed by Republicans (Ohio, California, etc.) In other states the very same systems are being doggedly defended by Democrats (Maryland, Pennsylvania, etc.). In some states such as Maryland it is Republican governors who are taking the lead in cleaning things up and in others it is Democratic governors like Bill Richardson of New Mexico who are taking charge. Ultimately its not about party nationally but local party power. Who ever was in power was sweet talked by the manufacturers who, at the end of the day, just want the billions of tax dollars that Bob Ney made us spend on this.

There are some great videos of Linda Lamone on Youtube:

1. Over My Dead Body This is my personal favorite. In it she says that the state will have paper records over her dead body.
2. I'M The boss" In this video Linda Lamone says "Im the boss and the buck stops here" essentially claiming credit (then) for all elections in the state. She has now reversed and said that the state is "decentralized"
3. Shocked Linda lamone is shocked shocked that Diebold would use the same master password for all machines in the U.S.
4. A search list is here.