the town dandy / By Hank Sims

Tricky machines

(Aug. 9, 2007)  We carry no brief for Diebold, Inc., so we weren’t saddened to hear about California Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s weekend massacre, in which the company’s touch-screen voting boxes, along with those made by competitors, were decertified for use in the upcoming presidential primary (Feb. 5) and beyond. Bowen immediately recertified the machines, but she placed severe restrictions on their use. Only one touch-screen machine will be made available per polling place, as an option for people with disabilities.

This is causing a great big freakout in some California counties — namely, those which unwisely decided to go all touch-screen a while back. Bowen’s action comes in the wake of her “top-to-bottom review” of the many different elections systems used in California. The review pointed out major security problems with the hardware and software used in nearly all of today’s high-tech voting systems — problems that could, in theory, permit someone to hack the vote (See “Town Dandy,” Aug. 2).

This is a case where Humboldt County’s native paranoia has worked to its advantage. When others were going touch-screen, we stuck with pens and paper. And though Bowen’s recent diktat will affect us, as well, we’re in much better shape than some.

“If you look at Los Angeles County, where they literally have an auditorium full of [touch-screen machines], they’re going to have some problems,” said Humboldt County Clerk/Recorder Carolyn Crnich Monday.

Crnich’s problems, by contrast, are relatively minor. The Bowen survey found problems with the central tabulating software that we use, so our elections office will have to change up procedure a bit. In the past few years, the voting machines in each of the county’s precincts have phoned home the results shortly after the polls closed. That is now a no-no. The machines will have to be physically delivered back to Elections HQ before the counting commences, which means that we will no longer have election night results.

A more immediate problem is that Humboldt County recently lost its top two elections officials. Former Elections Manager Lindsay McWilliams was lured away to Solano County, and his No. 2, Lou Leeper, has retired. It’s been a couple of months since McWilliams left, but the county is just now setting about finding his replacement. And the county’s next election is just three months away.

Four floors down from Crnich’s sumptuous penthouse digs in the courthouse, Treasurer/Tax Collector Stephen Strawn battles back rumor that he’s gone mad with power. We received a breathless call last week informing us that Strawn was in the process of secretly installing Internet surveillance cameras in his office, so that he could spy on his employees from the comfort of his home La-Z-Boy. The caller predicted that there would be a mass exodus of people from the Tax Collector’s Office, and that the county would be paying out millions to stem the inevitable lawsuits.

This is a case where Humboldt County’s native paranoia has not worked to its advantage. If those Chatty Cathys in the courthouse had done their research, they would have discovered that the cameras in question were part of this year’s county budget, and are intended to serve as a deterrent in the event someone gets it in his/her head to rob the treasury. They were recommended by law enforcement. They will be focused on the lobby only, according to Strawn — not on the employees. And their video will not be broadcast on the Internet.

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE >SHARE