Motion to Block Use of OH SOS Experimental Software to be Heard Tuesday Morning - Bradblog

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Motion to Block Use of OH Sec. of State's Last- Minute, 'Experimental' Software on 39 County Vote Tabulators to Be Heard Tuesday Morning

The BRAD BLOG obtains today's filings in Fitrakis v. Husted...
By Ernest A. Canning on 11/5/2012, 10:06pm PT

Earlier today, Brad Friedman reported in detail on the uncertified, "experimental" software patches that Ohio's Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) had secretly contracted [PDF] with Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S) to create and install at the very last minute onto electronic central vote tabulation systems in 39 Ohio counties, encompassing more than 4 million Buckeye State voters.

We noted that Bob Fitrakis, one of the Ohio journalists at the Columbus Free Press who had initially broken the story late last week, was planning to file a legal complaint and temporary restraining order in hopes of blocking the use of the mysterious, untested software on the ES&S central tabulation systems in those counties.

Late tonight, just hours from the official opening of Election Day polls in the Buckeye State tomorrow, we obtained copies of both the complaint [PDF] and the motion for a temporary restraining order [PDF] which have now been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division and where oral argument has been scheduled for tomorrow morning, Election Day, at 9am local time before Judge Gregory L. Forst, a George W. Bush appointee...

At tomorrow's hearing in Columbus, Judge Frost will be asked to rule on the motion for a TRO, as filed by Fitrakis, who, aside from being a long-time investigative journalist in the Buckeye State, is also an attorney, political science professor and a Green Party Congressional candidate. In both the TRO motion and in his full complaint, Fitrakis v. Husted, Fitrakis alleges that the Ohio Secretary of State violated the state Elections Code on Sept. 18, 2012 when he entered a contract with ES&S to provide "hardware and software designed to record and tabulate the votes cast by Ohio voters in the General Election on November 6, 2012...without...public bidding, without public review, and without approval of the technology review board."

In the complaint, Fitrakis alleges that the persons who are not under the supervision or control of the Secretary of State or the Ohio Boards of Elections, using private facilities, have "access" to "recording tabulation of votes" and that, by utilizing a "back door" installed by ES&S, those persons pose an imminent risk of irreparable harm to the rights of Ohio voters. They could, he charges, use that access to "alter the recording and tabulation of votes cast."

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