Federal Lawsuit Filed Against iVotronic in Allegheny Co. PA (Pittsburgh)

Lawsuit Filed Over Electronic Voting Machines

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH A group of Allegheny County residents along with national nonprofit organization People for the American Way, have filed suit today in federal court in Pittsburgh against county, state and federal officials. They are trying to prevent touchscreen machines from being used in next month's primary election.

Just five weeks ago, Allegheny County officials decided to switch voting machine companies.

The lawsuit filed today says that decision risks chaos on Election Day because of the lack of time to train election officials and educate voters about the change from lever machines which have been in use for 40 years.

“This rush to a new and flawed technology just weeks before the election threatens to sow chaos in the primary and compromise the fundamental rights of thousands of voters for years to come,” says Harry Litman, the former United States Attorney in Pittsburgh and an attorney for the plaintiffs. “It’s a bad deal for Allegheny County, and, we believe, a violation of federal law.”

MORE:
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_102152530.html


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Group sues to stop use of new voting machines

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

By Ed Blazina, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A group of Allegheny County residents and the national People for the American Way filed suit in U.S. District Court today to block the county from switching to touch-screen voting machines and paper ballots for the May 16 primary.

The group is seeking an injunction to require the county to continue using lever machines instead of using touch-screen machines the county agreed to purchase last week from Election Systems & Software for $11.9 million. The machines were the county's second choice after machines manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems failed to pass state certification tests.

The suit, with local community activist Celeste Taylor as the lead plaintiff, claims there isn't enough time to properly train poll workers and voters on the use of the new machines. Counties across the country are expected to use new voting machines this year to meet the Help Americans Vote Act, which was passed after the problems in Florida in the 2000 presidential election.

MORE:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06102/681552-100.stm


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Federal lawsuit seeks to stop use of new voting machine

By Glenn May
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 12, 2006

A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by a group of citizens and a civil rights organization seeks to stop Allegheny County from using new electronic voting machines in its May 16 primary election.

The suit, which also names the state of Pennsylvania and the federal government as defendants, alleges that the county's proposed purchase of 4,700 iVotronic machines from Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems & Software was so rushed that serious election-day problems are all but guaranteed.

"We could have bedlam in this election in May, the sort of thing you saw in Florida in 2000," said lawyer Harry Litman, a former U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania who filed the suit on behalf of People for the American Way and seven voters.

MORE:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pmupdate/s_443118.htm

:kick:

Good luck to all of us.

135. Defendants Kim and Gonzales, acting on behalf of the United States and the Department of Justice, have threatened legal action against the Secretary and against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania unless the State and County Defendants immediately adopt new voting machines for the May 16 primary.
136. This threat, combined with the threat to seek recoupment of monies paid to Pennsylvania under HAVA, has prompted the State and County Defendants to rush to acquire and implement new voting technologies without regard for the security, reliability, and accessibility of the new machines, and without regard for the chaos which is certain to result on Election Day if the machines are placed in use.
137. Despite these threats, the Department of Justice has taken a sharply different approach in a similar matter in the adjoining state of New York, by recognizing that the Department does not “expect the impossible” when it comes to matters affecting the fundamental right to vote. In New York, the Department of Justice has made clear that it would not pursue legal action if circumstances did not permit the State to adopt new machines prior to the first federal election of 2006.