Paper ballots and audits before the November election
Recently, I
received a letter and petition from MoveOn.org.
They indicate nearly 250,000 voters nationwide and 155 voters from Linn County
affirm the statement: "We must act quickly to secure our elections with paper ballots and audits before November".
Click here to see the letter and the names of petitioners from Linn County.
Assuming
the EAC (US Election Assistance Commission) certifies the voting equipment we plan
to purchase AND then the Iowa Secretary of State certifies the voting equipment
we plan to purchase AND then the Board of Supervisors approves the purchase of
the voting equipment AND then we receive the voting equipment in time to train
our precinct election officials on it, test it, and get it deployed to the
polling places … every Linn County voter’s vote in the November election will
be recorded on a paper ballot.
The
issue of post election audits is completely undecided and must be decided by a
legislative body, i.e., the US Congress and/or the Iowa Legislature. I, as Auditor & Commissioner of
Elections, do not have the authority to arbitrarily conduct an audit on a whim
and I do not want the authority to conduct an audit on a whim. Whatever we do in this area of the voting
process must be fair and consistent to all - which is what legislation is suppose to accomplish.
–Joel @ 2:00pm