The reliability of electronic voting machines is crucial as this country tries to fix problems exposed by excruciatingly close elections. A key aspect must be independent testing of voting systems’ accuracy – that’s why recent news about the failure of the largest tester of voting machines to meet federal certification standards was so disturbing.
Ciber, which is based in Greenwood Village, is on its way to meeting requirements, said Donetta Davidson, the former Colorado secretary of state who now chairs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
We’re glad to hear that. But the situation has drawn attention to some of the conflicts and problems inherent in the developing federal regulatory system, which was born of the presidential election debacle of 2000 and resulting corrective federal legislation.
A financial relationship between the testing labs and the machine manufacturers presents a basic conflict of interest and needs to change. The companies hire the labs directly to determine whether their machines meet federal standards. It’s an important stamp of approval for 40 states, which rely upon federal certification to at least some degree.
Davidson told us Congress may be asked to pass legislation changing the financial relationship. We urge lawmakers to take it up. Voting-machine companies should continue to pay for testing, but the government should hire the labs and collect the results.
There are other matters to address as well. The independence of testing labs must be unquestioned.
Recently, the president of SysTest of Denver was hired by lawyers for a Republican congressional candidate in Florida to monitor the test of an electronic voting system suspected of malfunctioning in the disputed election. As a result, the commission sent a letter to the test labs Thursday, asking them to avoid even an appearance of a conflict. Surely there are stronger steps that can be taken by either the commission or Congress.
We cannot allow vagaries in the regulatory process to undermine the public trust in the electoral system. Election accuracy must be better protected.
