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Voting system finally passes

A voting rights advocate, however, says after the test that she wouldn't trust the machines.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published August 18, 2006

After having failed the first time around, Pinellas County's voting system passed a pre-election check on Thursday.

Voting machines will be delivered to polling sites today so that early voting for the Sept. 5 primary can begin as scheduled on Monday.

The result was a good one for Supervisor of Elections Office officials, who on Wednesday had grappled with a voting system that fell short during what's called a logic and accuracy test.

But voting rights advocates who observed the process were not impressed.

"I wouldn't trust these machines," said Linda McGeehan, a vice president of the St. Petersburg League of Women Voters. "I feel much more insecure now after seeing this."

The logic and accuracy test involves running a controlled election with a determined outcome and seeing whether the system delivers a correct result.

Election officials said they ran two tests of the system before Wednesday's failed one. In each case, the result was a success: the control and final results matched.

The way the second test was held Thursday irked the League of Women Voters' McGeehan.

Under state law, logic and accuracy tests are open to public scrutiny. Yet for much of the day, McGeehan said the ability to observe was constrained.

And promises by election officials to provide an explanation for the system's initial failure were slow in coming.

Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark said it had been decided to first attempt a successful test before addressing the concerns of observers like McGeehan so that delays to her office's work schedule could be avoided.

[Last modified August 18, 2006, 07:06:54]