Good News for Election Integrity
California's incoming secretary of state, Debra Bowen, says her office will conduct "a top to bottom review of every voting system in use anywhere in California." What's more, Bowen has indicated she is willing to decertify machines approved by her predecessor, Bruce McPherson. We can only hope Bowen's investigation will spark a national trend.
California’s incoming secretary of state, Debra Bowen, says her office will conduct “a top to bottom review of every voting system in use anywhere in California.” What’s more, Bowen has indicated she is willing to decertify machines approved by her predecessor, Bruce McPherson. We can only hope Bowen’s investigation will spark a national trend.
Wait, before you go…Brad Blog:
On Bowen’s plans for full ‘top to bottom review’ of outgoing SoS’ McPherson’s rubber-stamp certification of all electronic voting machines… “We are going to do a top to bottom review of every voting system in use anywhere in California,” Bowen said in an interview. “Yes, I would consider decertifying machines that my predecessor approved. Unfortunately, we’ve spent a lot of money on equipment that’s not ready for prime time. Any Fortune 500 company would have sent those machines back with a letter saying they just don’t do what they’re supposed to.”
On the truth (finally!) about the feckless and incompetent McPherson… Her appointed predecessor and defeated autumn opponent, the former Republican state Sen. Bruce McPherson of Santa Cruz, was anything but a skeptic, certifying virtually any machine any county registrar wanted to buy and imposing questionable checks on their performance.
On the infamous voting machine “sleepovers” (as first revealed by The BRAD BLOG)… “I believe the sleepovers are illegal,” said Bowen, an attorney. “If a system is designed so it can’t be used without sitting in someone’s garage for two weeks, we should not be using that system. We could fix this by using a bonded delivery service like Brinks to deliver machines to polling places at a set time.”
In short, the voting machine status quo will not be lasting long in the nascent Bowen era.
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