Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) spoke on the floor of the Senate floor on Tuesday in support of SB0872 (HB0614), the bill he sponsored to delay the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act. Based on a press release sent out today by the very Election Assistance Commission (EAC) he spoke of, he was fed some very incorrect information.
1) “Currently, no optical scan machine has been certified to the 2005 Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines.”
According to a press release sent out today by the EAC, there are now three optical-scan voting systems that are certified to 2005 standards.
2) “Which the bill we passed in ‘02 [It was actually passed in '08 - ed.] requires.”
A Davidson County Chancellor ruled without exception that the TVCA does NOT require voting machines federally certified to 2005 standards. Machines certified to 2002 not only meet the requirements of the TVCA but are available in abundance. Also available in abundance, federal dollars that can be used by the state ONLY to pay for for these machines and other election-related materials.
3) “Unfortunately, they [EAC] inform us, only one machine may be certified in time for this election cycle coming up in November 2010.”
Hello, today’s press release from the EAC.
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today certified the OpenElect 1.0 voting system by Unisyn Voting Solutions, an optical-scan device with central count and precinct-level count equipment, to the 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. It is the fourth voting system to achieve federal certification under the EAC Voting System Testing and Certification Program.
…
EAC certified its first voting system, a direct recording electronic (DRE) device called the MicroVote EMS 4.0, early last year. Last summer it certified the ES&S Unity 3.2.0.0 optical-scan system and the Premier Assure 1.2 with optical-scan and DRE technology.
If I were one of the 60 county election administrators that were in the Senate chamber yesterday to support Senator Ketron’s delay bill, I would feel cheated. Ditto for the other Senators who voted for his bill, many of whom told their constituents that they would vote for the delay bill precisely because there were no certified machines available.
