You don’t know what voting equipment we use?

April 24th, 2006, 3:16 pm Josh Houghtelin Vote

Oh My Gosh! I was chatting w/my Grandpa online when we crossed the topic of technology and what we are doing in our lifes at the moment. I, of course, am working on election equipment so I wanted to take a step and see if I couldn’t provide my Grandpa with some information he can take to the polls. I believe he would make for a great candidate to use our new voting equipment.

With that in mind I called up Crow Wing County Minnesota. I immediately got ahold of the Auditors office (Auditors do the elections in Minnesota).

Deputy: “Hello, auditors office”
ME: “What vendor provides your voting equipment?”.
Deputy: “Umm. I’m not sure. I’d have to have you talk to the Auditor and she’s not in right now, can I transfer you to her voicemail?”
ME: “No, I just want to know what vendor provides your equipment. You know. ES&S, Diebold, there arn’t that many, I figure someone there can tell me. I mean, you guys are the ones who handle our elections right?”
Deputy: “Yes, the Auditors office does handle the elections. but umm. Hold on, let me transfer you to our Auditors assistant”
Assitant: “Hello, this is ##### how can I help you?”.
ME: “I want to know what vendor we go through for our election equipment.”
Assistant: “You would have to talk to the Auditor about that”
ME: “Are you telling me that NOBODY in that office knows what equipment you are using in your next election? NOBODY in that courthouse can tell me what equipment we use? I can’t believe this.”
Assistant: “Sir, you will need to talk to the Auditor”
ME: “I just wanted the election equipment vendors name and you cannot even provide that information to me? This is scary. This is realy scary.”

At that point I hung up. You know. It’s not the equipment you use in an election that makes it open to abuse. It’s being uninformed. It’s not having a security policy. It’s not being solid and transparent about your current election process that will get you in trouble. I feel quite agitated that they played dumb like that. How does anyone with a handicap ever find out about this new equipment if only one lady can tell you about it? How does the public come to know about this information if only the Auditor can speak on the topic?

I encourage everyone. I mean EVERYONE to call their local courthouse and ask what vendor they chose to provide their election equipment. You as the public should know how your votes are being counted. Find out where to vote and when to vote. Find out what you are voting on. This information is publicly available. If you live anywhere in Missouri or Iowa (and some parts of Kansas) and get a response anything close to what I did then please get a hold of me. I can actualy help you if you live in the states I work with.

I’m agitated. I’m going to call up my dads county and see if I get the same response.

10 minutes later…
I got ahold of Sharon, the Auditor of Cass County Minnesota and was absolutely astonished with as much information as she presented to me. Thank you Sharon! I found that most Minnesota Counties utilize equipment by “Election Systems & Software”, otherwise known as ES&S. Sharon could not have been more helpful. She was however the Auditor. I’m not sure if I would have attained as much good information if I hadn’t been able to speak to the Auditor like the situation with Crow Wing County. Thanks again Sharon!

I also found out that ES&S and Diebold are the only two vendors (as of yet) that have certified equipment available for purchase in Minnesota. If you live in rural Minnesota you will most likely be using ES&S where as some metropolis areas are using Diebold equipment. Cheers!

.. Upon further research. I have found that Diebolds handicap accessible voting equipment wasn’t certified quick enough to be on the state purchasing contract so even older Diebold counties will be using the ES&S Automark as their handicap accessible voting equipment unless they get an extension on their time to purchase. .. There is a lot of information at the Courthouse. All you have to do is call and ask.