TX SoS Office Advises Creaton of '06 "Emergency paper ballots"

[babylonsister]

Please help me with this. What elections are coming up May 13?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425439


Brad: TX SoS Office Advises Creaton of '06 "Emergency paper ballots"


EXCLUSIVE - ES&S MELTDOWN: Texas SoS Office Advises Election Officials to Create 'Emergency Paper Ballots' for Upcoming Elections!
Director of Elections Sends Letter Authorizing Measure in Light of Latest Failure by Electronic Voting Machine Vendor
Says Company's Performance in Most Recent -- of Many Similar Incidences Around the Country -- is 'Completely Unacceptable and Disturbing'

On Monday, Texas Director of Elections Ann McGeehan sent a letter to all state Election Officials authorizing them to create "emergency paper ballots" in light of statewide failures by Election System & Software, Inc. (ES&S) to provide ballots in time for the state's upcoming May 13 Runoff Elections, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

Early voting begins on Monday for those elections and counties across the state do not yet have ballots and, in many cases, programming for their optical-scan and touch-screen voting machines. ES&S has contracts with more than 140 Texas counties.

McGeehan has instructed officials to create and number their own paper ballots, secure boxes to store them in, and hire additional workers to manually hand count ballots as an emergency procedure to deal with the rapidly deteriorating situation.

The letter from McGeehan (posted in full exclusively at the link below) -- which does not mention ES&S by name, but refers to the Omaha, Nebraska-based company only as "a certified voting systems vendor" -- was sent in response to complaints from officials around the state that "programming media or, in some cases, your ballots" had not been received yet by officials.

The BRAD BLOG has also received statements from officials in other states who were much more direct in expressing their frustration with the company's business practices now being described by some as including "coercion" and "threats."

Our breaking report this morning documents similar meltdowns and failures in Ohio, Indiana, West Virgina, California and more as ES&S failure to meet contractual obligations has left voters in the dark, and Election Officials scrambling for back up solutions.

And that's just the jurisdictions dealing with ES&S as the other vendors are all have similar problems to disastrous effect...

COMPLETE STORY, FULL LETTER FROM TEXAS SoS OFFICE...
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002742.htm

[Horse with no Name]

1. Municipal elections n/t

[babylonsister]

3. It will be interesting to see if the powers that be are concerned

with any other TX elections this year.
Thanks!

[Horse with no Name]

5. You know they won't

The "cover story" is that they used an alternative method for the municipal elections while they FIXED (operative word) the machines for the November elections.

[WolverineDG]

2. local elections

mayor & stuff

:hi: from nyc, y'all! i'll be marching in my DVO shirt tomorrow!! :)


dg

[babylonsister]

4. Hey there! How's the weather in NYC?

Have a great weekend and pls. take lots of pics!

[WolverineDG]

8. It's cooler than Texas

that's for damn sure! :rofl:

Already have some good shots, taken at Strawberry Fields yesterday. We did our "practice walk" by walking from our hotel on 32nd up to Strawberry Fields (Central Park West at 72nd) and back. :)

:hi:

dg

[babylonsister]

12. I'm there with you in spirit, dg!

:hi:

[PDittie]

6. Awesome, Kell!

We want pictures...

[WolverineDG]

9. Will DVO be coming to Webb County?

:evilgrin:

dg

[PDittie]

10. Oh yes. He intends to visit all 254

courthouses between now and November. I think he'll make it to Laredo in June, after the convention.

[WolverineDG]

13. good, when it's nice & cool.

:silly:

I look forward to it!!

dg

[sonias]

7. Elections Committee Report

I was at a House Elections Committee Hearing on Wednesday 4/26 and heard the report provided by Ann McGeehan, Director of Elections. It was very interesting. While she tried to be upbeat, I think the counties are really beating up on them. The primary was a nightmare for a lot of these counties and these vendors continue to act like arrogant children. And Texas being a pro-business state, isn't doing much to punish them.

The emergency ballot situation also happened during the primary. The SOS granted many counties the same privilege then because of the same problem with ES&S. This vendor is on top of the shit list with many counties. According to Ann, I think she said there are 160 Texas counties (of 254) that have contracts with ES&S. That's more than half of our Texas counties under the mercy of this incompetent vendor. But let's not forget that the SOS was responsible for certifying them to operate in Texas.

Here's the link to the memo on the SOS web site.

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/statusofballot.shtml
Status of Ballot and Programming Card Orders for the May 13, 2006 Elections
TO: Election Officials
FROM: Ann McGeehan, Director of Elections
DATE: April 24, 2006
RE: Status of Ballot and Programming Card Orders for the May 13, 2006 Elections

We have heard from many of you that you have not received your programming media or, in some cases, your ballots, for the May 13, 2006 elections. We recognize that this kind of service from a certified voting systems vendors is completely unacceptable and disturbing. We will be pursuing all appropriate remedies from a state level that are available to us.

In the meantime, if you are one of the entities affected, the Secretary of State’s office authorizes you to create emergency ballots. If you do not receive your ballots in time to properly prepare for early voting, you may create your own paper ballots or, if you received a proof from your vendor, you may use PDF format to print copies of the ballot.

After you print a copy of the ballot, you will need to put a ballot number at the top of the ballot beginning with the next ballot number of the last number of your original ballot order. In other words, if you ordered 15,000 ballots numbered 1-15,000, any ballots you create would be numbered beginning with the number 15,001. You will need to put your initials on the back of the ballot so you can determine it was an official ballot provided by you.

If you do not receive your ballot programming in time to conduct your required Logic and Accuracy tests, you will have no option but to begin early voting using the emergency paper ballots. Once you have received your programs and have conducted a successful L&A test, you must begin using the electronic voting equipment. Guidelines for conducting Logic and Accuracy were mailed out to county election officials in Election Advisory 2006-05 dated February 21, 2006, and are posted on our website at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/advisory2006-05.shtml.

More at link above.

Sonia

[babylonsister]

11. Thanks for that info, Sonia. I can only hope the

emergency ballot situation they're aware of might make them re-think the November elections. And beyond!