It’s Official: If You Can Play Video Poker, You’ll Be Able to Vote in Nevada

Secretary of State Issues Proclamation: Touch Screen Voting Statewide in 2004. Statewide Registration by 2006

by Johnny Gunn

Secretary of State Dean Heller made it official December 10 by issuing a proclamation declaring an end to punch card voting practices in Nevada, and introducing the entire state to electronic voting by way of touch screen voting systems. The move was not unexpected as Congress decreed the change by way of Help America Vote Act (HAVA), following the disastrous Florida debacle in 2000. No more hanging chads in Nevada.

Weeks of argument over different types of electronic touch screen machines came to a screeching halt when the Nevada Gaming Control Board put their official seal of acceptance to the system built by Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, California. Some 70% of the state has been using the touch screen machines for as long as ten years, all in Clark County.

The big change from what has been used and what will be used is a paper trail. Referred to as Voter Verifiable Receipt (VVR), it is a change that was adamantly supported by County Clerks, citizen input, and others concerned with verification of the vote. The VVR, according to Heller, was one of the factors that lead him to pick the Sequoia System over rival Diebold which has come under fire over the possibility of it being not secure.

“Voting is the most fundamental freedom Americans enjoy,” Heller said at a press conference on December 10th. “My duty is clear: to provide voters with the highest level of confidence that elections in this area are fair, unbiased, and secure.”

Marc McDermott, Chief, Electronic Services Division, Nevada State Gaming Control Board issued a statement following intense scrutiny of both the Diebold and Sequoia touch screen voting systems. “I believe the Diebold electronic voting machine, operating on the software analyzed in the Johns Hopkins (University) report, and the SAIC Risk Assessment Report, represents a legitimate threat to the integrity of the election process.” McDermott went on to say, “Based on available information with regard to the Sequoia Voting System, I believe the Sequoia electronic voting machine represents a much more secure option.”

There were many calling for the Gaming Control Board to investigate the trustworthiness of the electronic voting machines. Thousands of gaming devices in Nevada use touch screen technology, and are secure from outside interference. There has been one example of fraud when a member of the gaming control agency itself used inside knowledge to cheat, but he was caught. Most feel that if our gaming machines are secure, and since they deal in so many millions of dollars, that the Gaming Control Board would be able to determine if the voting machines would be secure. The report verified that.

That report along with the fact that VVR would be part of the package, caused Heller to pick the Sequoia system as the voting machine to be used statewide. Nevada Senator John Ensign has been a critic of the machines because of a lack of a paper trail. He has asked for federal legislation to mandate this, and a bill to do just that was introduced in congress the same day that Heller issued his proclamation. Ensign said, “As public officials, we have a serious responsibility to maintain the integrity of our election process, including voting machines and ballots.”

Marc Latour, Senior Mechanical Engineer with Sequoia Systems walked me through the process of voting with one of the machines set up at Heller’s press conference. A voter is given a card similar to an ATM or credit card which is programmed at the time the voter signs in at a precinct. “The only thing the card does,” Latour told me, “is give you access one time to the machine.” After I inserted the card, the screen gave me voting options.

By simply touching a circle next to a candidate’s name, I voted for that candidate. Latour let me make changes, as if I had made the wrong choice. Touch that circle again, and the vote is erased. At the end of the ballot, when I touched Vote, a paper ballot began to be printed out. This ballot stays with the machine in the event a recount is needed. Again, I was given the chance to make changes. I touched the screen to make a change and the paper ballot had void written across it. Won’t be counted in a recount, and my votes were erased, and I started over. Almost impossible to make a mistake, even for an old codger like me.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said, “If you play video poker, you can use these machines with no difficulty.” Lomax went on to say they use that analogy in their training sessions for precinct workers and to educate the public. “If the voters of any state in the Union understand touch screen systems, it’s Nevada,” he said. Lomax has several thousand of the Sequoia systems in Clark County, and the system has been in use for as long as ten years.

Heller said there were several reasons for him to choose the Sequoia touch screen machine over its rivals, including the ability of a voter to review and correct the ballot on a paper ballot that can then be used in the event of a challenge to the election or a recount. “There won’t be any hanging chads in Nevada,” he said.

The paper trail has been a sticking point with many of the state’s county clerks, and Heller said the Sequoia machines are equipped with the VVR paper ballots. “Many of the older machines in Clark County don’t have a paper ballot attachment, but I have ordered that they all be brought up to the current standard.” Sequoia representatives on hand said that will not be a problem, that the upgrades have already been ordered and will be installed long before the September, 2004 primary elections. The VVR part of the system is still undergoing federal inspection and hasn’t been certified as yet. Latour said certification is just around the corner.

As can be imagined, this is an expensive venture, and Heller pointed out that since the changes have been decreed by HAVA. that is, a federal law, the costs will be picked up by the federal government. The state has already received more than $5 million, and another $15 million is expected soon after the first of the year under provisions of Title II of the HAV Act.

HAVA came into being on October 29, 2002, when signed into law by President Bush. In Nevada, Senate Bill 453 was signed into law by Governor Kenny Guinn on May 2, 2003, and incorporates the federal law into Nevada law. Besides calling for electronic voting machines, it mandates statewide voter registration, and Heller is expected to have that program in place in 2006.

In order to make sure that all the counties of the state will have electronic voting by the 2004 elections, Heller decertified all punch card voting machines in the state. They cannot be used in a Nevada election, and in his proclamation, says, “by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the state of Nevada, do hereby proclaim the decertification of all punch card voting systems, ... effective no later than September 1, 2004.” Heller then accepted the Sequoia Systems as the electronic voting machines of record for the Silver State.

Questions regarding the security or vulnerability of each person’s vote has been one of the leading areas of discussion about electronic voting. Heller pointed out that these machines are not connected in any kind of network. “There is nothing to hack into. The machine stands alone.” A “black box” to use a familiar euphemism, collects the votes of each machine, and the paper ballot is then taken with that black box to the county clerk where it can be downloaded, checked against the paper ballot, and counted.

“There simply isn’t anything to hack,” Heller stressed. Marc Latour, the Sequoia Senior Mechanical Engineer made me prove that to myself. When I was finished “voting,” and had removed the little ATM card, he had me try to use the card again. The machine would not allow me to use the card a second time. At a precinct, the voter then would return the card to the precinct workers and it would be quickly reprogrammed for another voter. A voter could not vote more than once.

Washoe County Registrar of Voters Dan Burk said that even if someone didn’t return the card, wanted to defraud the election, he wouldn’t know how to reprogram it. “It’s done on a machine at the precinct desk, to Sequoia and Federal Election Guidelines.”

Burk had been a supporter of the Diebold system, but told the assembled crowd that the “decision has been made, there are no more arguments. It’s time to move on. We need to get precinct workers trained, we need to prepare for the 2004 election cycle.” During a meeting in June, 2003 in Yerington, county clerks from 12 counties voted in favor of the Sequoia system, two voted in favor of Diebold, and Washoe County simply voted no preference.

There is a third company that makes touch screen voting systems, and ES&S hasn’t really become a major player. Washoe County has been using scanning equipment to count the votes and this will be the first time touch screen voting will take place in the county with the second largest population. In Clark County, Lomax takes the touch screen machines to various malls around the county in order to help educate voters and potential precinct workers. In Washoe County, Burk has run up against a brick wall in attempting to do the same thing.

“The largest mall in northern Nevada won’t allow the machines to be brought in for education or for early voting,” Heller told the gathered members of the press. Burk backed that up, and both said they intend to do what they can to get Meadowood Mall to allow the machines in for early voting, and to allow the registrar of voters to help educate the general public.

Meadowood Mall representatives did not return calls made by the Observer.

The Federal Elections Commission is expected to have VVR machines certified before the end of the first quarter of 2004, and Sequoia says they have voting machines on hand ready to deliver, and the paper ballot recorders will be ready as soon as they are certified. Heller said because this is a federal mandate, Sequoia is ready to deliver the machines even if all the money to pay for them and the training that goes along with the purchase isn’t on hand. Congress is expected to make the allocations to the states after the first of the year.

“After all,” Heller says, “It’s their law. They will fund it.”

Another part of HAVA is registration of voters. Currently in Nevada, each county is responsible for its own rules and programs. Because of this, the potential for fraud is possible. Those with a desire to cheat can register in more than one county, relatives of dead people can vote for them, and registration of fictitious voters does happen. The Help America Vote Act mandates that each state will have a statewide system of voter registration in place by the end of 2004, but gives the states an opportunity to ask for an extension to 2006. Nevada has asked for that extension.

County clerks have been worried that with a combination of new voting systems and new registration rules, that it will create serious problems at the local levels if both changes were to be made at the same time. Heller agreed with them and has asked for the extension. There are two federal investigations underway in Nevada dealing with possible voter fraud at the registration level, and at least one large indictment has been issued in Clark County dealing with the same problem.

Eureka County is being probed by the FBI in regards to registration irregularities, possibly dealing with dead people voting, or voters having moved to another county but still voting in Eureka County during the 2000 elections, and a similar probe is taking place in Nye County. The FBI is not talking about their investigation, saying, “it’s an active investigation, we won’t discuss any details.”

In Clark County, an indictment with 62 separate charges has been brought against a saloon keeper who was allegedly registering non existent voters. Trial is expected to get underway on those charges shortly after the first of the year. There may be other political implications in the case. Garry Horrocks was allegedly working to unseat a specific person according to some accounts. During one preliminary hearing, one charge of more than 60 was dropped

Renee Parker is Chief Deputy Secretary of State, and she feels getting the statewide voter registration program set up will take considerable effort on the part of county clerks. “We will be setting up a statewide data base of voters, and there are companies who have designed these programs. We will be asking for bids to get this started.” Parker says because of the extension to 2006, the program will be much smoother.

She thinks it will probably be linked to DMV in some way. “We have to be able to verify someone’s identity and current address, and a driver license in the logical way to go.” For those who don’t drive, many county police agencies offer identification cards similar to driver licenses, and these are considered official documents. “We’ll probably also have to be linked to vital statistics data bases as well.”

One of the problems faced by county clerks is the possibility of voters moving but still voting in their old district, and dead people voting. The HAV Act says that if a driver license isn’t available, then social security numbers can be used, and if all else fails, personal identification by a county clerk, probably by way of a notarized claim, will suffice to allow someone to register.

Once registered and in the statewide data base, showing up at the voting precinct and signing in, with signature verification, will probably be about the same as used today. With the data base in place, it won’t be difficult to check on someone’s eligibility and registration.

There have been some relating the electronic or Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machine balloting to something within the genre of cyber space, but as Heller did his best to point out, these are electronic machines for sure, but there is no network, they are not tied to the Internet or phone lines, there is virtually nothing to be hacked into except each individual machine, and there are precautions in place for that eventuality. Statements like that often are taken as direct challenges by the youngsters who take such pleasure in disrupting our lives, so vigilance by registrars and county clerks will have to be a byword.

In Washoe County, Burk is slightly worried about the time frame. “We’re looking at barely nine months before the 2004 primary election, and that doesn’t give us a lot of time to get precinct workers trained, and do the necessary educating of voters.”

Clark County’s Lomax said many of his precinct workers are retired people, maybe not quite up to speed in the electronic/computerized world. “I have my work cut out as will all those involved, in making sure everyone is educated and up to speed.”

Of course, if you go to the polling place and remember to hold jacks or better, you just might win.