El Paso, Teller counties pass muster in state tests

DENVER - El Paso and Teller counties are two of only 12 counties in the state that will not have to recertify voting equipment before the 2008 primary election.

Secretary of State Mike Coffman went into detail Tuesday on his decertification of some voting machines and ballot-counting equipment used by three of the four vendors operating in Colorado.

Tests found that the equipment lacks proper security to keep it from being disabled by an outside attack or that it can’t accurately count ballots, Coffman said during a legislative hearing.

The 52 counties that have had some or all of their equipment decertified must retest it or get upgrades until it passes standards imposed by the state. Aside from throwing the mechanisms of the upcoming election into question, the announcement could shake voters’ confidence that their ballots will be counted accurately, election watchers and officials said.

Voters in El Paso and Teller counties, however, should have no such problems. Both use equipment from Premier Services, which was the only manufacturer whose machines passed all of the state’s certifications.

“The whole thing was completely certified, and we’re completely thrilled,” said El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink, who attended Tuesday’s hearing. “I don’t think we’ll have any issues at all.”

While Balink and Teller County Clerk and Recorder Patricia Crowson can make preparations for next year’s presidential elections, many other county officials are scrambling. Some systems were partially certified — meaning that either the electronic voting machines or the ballot-counting devices had problems. One voting system used by Jefferson and Mesa counties had major problems in every aspect of its performance.

Coffman outlined a series of proposed law changes that he hopes will speed up the retesting and recertification of machines. He hopes to accept testing data from other states, waive federal testing requirements on a patching device for some upgrades and allow counties that use certain systems to upgrade it and present it for recertification rather than requiring the vendor to do so.

Sen. Ken Gordon, a Denver Democrat who led the hearing, said the suggestions sound like a good way to ensure all Coloradans get to vote. But legislators will also consider using paper ballots, he said.

Though no one suggested explicitly that the state go to an all-mail ballot, Coffman tried to head off such talk by insisting this would not solve the problems. Federal law requires that there be a touch-screen voting machine at every voting center to help the disabled, and the state still has to certify scanning machines to count ballots, he said.

Several election observers left the hearing wary of Coffman’s suggestions.

Jenny Rose Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, said voters can have confidence after the testing that any machine certified is safe and accurate. By suggesting rules that bypass portions of the certification process, Coffman could undermine that, she said.

Al Kolwicz, a Boulder County resident who has spent years working on voting issues, suggested that even those machines that have been certified may not be safe. The people who handled the certification did so in a secretive and closed way and considered only factors of electronic security rather than issues of transparency and verifiability of votes, he said.

“Any short cuts, when it comes to the testing of this system, are a recipe for disaster,” Kolwicz said.

Gordon will hold a Jan. 3 hearing at the Capitol to take public comments on the issue.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303) 837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com

DETAILS

El Paso and Teller counties use machines made by Premier Services, the only manufacturer whose machines passed all of the state’s certification tests. One voting system in use in Jefferson and Mesa counties had major problems in every aspect of performance.