09/24/2007: "Ballot Tracker Is Still With Us"

Dear Editor,

Recent headlines have left many readers falsely impressed that San Juan County Elections has finally abandoned Ballot Tracker, the paperless system that electronically “audits” your vote by linking your name to the barcode on your ballot.

While our lawsuit and policy challenge to ballot barcodes is succeeding in re-securing the Secret Ballot across the state, our own local officials have declared their intention to turn the discredited encryption scheme “ON” for our November Election.

Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord, chief litigant, has made multiple trips to the mainland promoting Ballot Tracker, and defends it with a slick 65-slide PowerPoint presentation. He even circulated his own draft legislation to change State law to allow unique ballot barcodes. While this could be considered due diligence, pushing a failing product that compromises voter trust is discouraging.

Plus…it’s a lonely, losing battle. No new counties have followed SJC’s lead. The Secretary of State’s Office has withdrawn support for SJC’s Ballot Tracker. Alerted State Legislative Elections Committees are preparing strengthened prohibitions against this product. Last week King County explicitly forbade any expenditure for VoteHere’s Ballot Tracker in any form.

And, by the way, VoteHere and parent shell Dategrity have apparently closed shop: Websites down. Phones dead. Offices empty. Their sole, orphaned product, Ballot Tracker, has resurfaced under a new logo, “Election Trust.”

What kind of technical support for Ballot Tracker’s glitches would YOU count on?

We’ve been sold a bill of goods.

If the County is putting in anywhere near the effort in retaining Ballot Tracker that our team has in fighting it over these last two years, we fear the cost paid by County taxpayers and the price paid by County voters is staggering.

We appeal to Auditor Milene Henley, who inherited this mess, not to ruin her first term by running her first election using fatally flawed Ballot Tracker. It’s high time we followed its engineer and conductor and jumped this doomed derailing train. The last stop is right around the bend.

For more, sjmedia.org
Tim White, Orcas 376-5851
Allan Rosato, Orcas 376-2158
Green Party Elections Working Group (Tom Munsey, SJI) 378-5196