It may not be a very good day in the corporate offices at Diebold, but The BRAD BLOG has learned some big news that may well indicate today is a very good day indeed for the voters of America and specifically in California.
As incoming Sec. of State Debra Bowen was sworn in to her new office just moments ago, The BRAD BLOG can now reveal that one of the nation’s top critics of unverifiable electronic voting systems — and a key player across several states in the legal battles against voting machine companies such as Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Hart Intercivic — is today being named by the new California Sec. of State Debra Bowen as Deputy SoS for Voting Systems Technology and Policy.
Lowell Finley, the lead attorney for the non-partisan voting machine legal watchdog organization VoterAction.org, will be named to the position today.
In his new capacity, Finley will oversee testing and certification for all voting machine technology in the State of California. In a phone call this morning, Finley confirmed that he would be working closely in his new role with key national associations like the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC).
E-voting critics and at least one California Registrar of Voters have hailed both the swearing in of Bowen as SoS and her appointment of Finley, expressing delight to The BRAD BLOG over the news, characterizing it as a “colossal surprise” and a “very, very good sign for the future of voters’ rights in California.”
America’s voting machine companies are less likely to feel quite as happy about the news.
Finley and VoterAction have filed a number of landmark lawsuits in several states, including in California, over the past year or so, demanding an immediate halt to the use and purchase of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE/touch-screen) voting systems and decertification of many of those systems, as well as improved processes for certification of such systems.
VoterAction is one of over 30 Election Reform organizations who recently went on record with an open letter to Members of Congress demanding federal legislation requiring a paper ballot for every vote cast in America. Such legislation would effectively ban the use of DRE systems, with or without a so-callled “Voter Verified Paper Trail” (VVPAT).
Bowen has been a dogged critic of former Secretary of State Bruce McPherson during her candidacy and in her role overseeing the Elections Committee as a California State Senator. She has criticized his lack of oversight and lax testing procedures, and has championed a “Voters’ Bill of Rights” for the Golden State.
While a suit by VoterAction.org filed against former SoS McPherson and several CA Registrars of Voting — concerning McPherson’s certification of Diebold TSx touch-screen systems — is still pending in state court, the disposition of that suit will likely change due to the fact that the lead defendant, McPherson, is no longer in office.
The Berkeley-based attorney Finley — also one of the attorneys representing voter plaintiffs in the contested election in Florida’s 13th Congressional district in Sarasota — had one of his most recent and notable successes last September, when a Colorado judge ordered a complete review of certification procedures for voting machines in the state. The court found the official placed in charge of testing and certification didn’t have the qualifications necessary, and performed little or no testing. That man, John Gardner, was appointed by former CO Sec. of State Donetta Davidson, who has been appointed by George W. Bush to head the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission.
The news of Finley’s appointment will undoubtedly be of concern to the major voting machine companies that received little oversight from the former Sec. of State McPherson.
“I wish I was a fly on the wall in the offices at Diebold as they learn of this appointment. I’m sure jaws will be dropping and damage control will be ramping up,” John Gideon of election watchdog organization VotersUnite.org told us today. (Gideon is also a frequent Guest Blogger here at The BRAD BLOG.) …
Finley told The BRAD BLOG today that “VoterAction’s work goes on unabated, and there will be an interim legal director, fully qualified to step into my role in the Sarasota [FL-13] case and the other pending cases.”
“While the news of this appointment was, at first, a shock because I initially saw us losing an integral part of the Election Integrity community, that shock turned to happiness as I realized that Lowell would be stepping into a position where his actions would influence the actions of elections officials nationally,” said Gideon.
Yolo County Registrar-Clerk Freddie Oakley also tells us she’s very happy with the appointment. As a long time fan of Bowen’s, Oakley wrote us this afternoon to say, “She has never disappointed me. She has always been just about the smartest person in the room, and she also has the gift of restraint and self-examination.”
She, as well, was delighted at the appointment of Finley. “I think Bowen’s appointment of Lowell Finley is a very, very good sign for the future of voters’ rights in California,” she wrote. “Lowell is a smart, upright guy with a clean, unencumbered history. What a great combination! Bowen’s careful, practical intelligence, her deeply held values and Finley’s immense energy for justice and his natural intellectual appetite. I expect some really colossal surprises!”
In addition to the Florida and California cases, VoterAction suits are still pending in Ohio, Pennsylvania and on appeal in Arizona. A lawsuit by the group in New Mexico after the 2004 Election was seen a key factor in that state’s new policy banning DRE voting systems and requiring a paper ballot for every vote cast.
Finley will take his post beginning tomorrow. An interim legal director to replace Finley at VoterAction will be announced within the next ten days, pending approval from their Board of Directors.
Bowen was sworn into office at 2pm PST this afternoon. (The ceremony is available via video webcast live at this address.) News of her plans for office, including a “top to bottom review” of voting systems certified by her predecessor and her view that voting machine “sleepovers” with pollworkers prior to Election Day are in fact “illegal” can be found in this BRAD BLOG story posted late last week.
Neither Diebold nor Sequoia Voting Systems have immediately returned our calls seeking comment on the appointment. We’ll update this story if and when appropriate. (See update below for a response from Sequoia sent to us the next day.)
UPDATE 1/9/07: Sequoia Voting Systems’ spokesperson Michelle Shafer contacted us via email this morning in response to our request for comment:
I am sorry I could not return your call yesterday afternoon as I was traveling.
You left me a voice mail asking about Sequoia’s reaction to the appointment of Lowell Finley to the position of Deputy SOS of CA for Voting Systems Technology and Policy by newly elected CA SOS Bowen.
We send our congratulations to Mr. Finley and wish him the best in his new endeavor with the California Secretary of State’s Office. We look forward to meeting with Mr. Finley, Secretary Bowen and other members of the Secretary’s new team and engaging in productive dialogue about accurate, secure and accessible elections in the State of California.
Thank you for contacting me, Brad.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Finley would take his post in ten days. We regret the error.
This is great. It truly should come as no suprise as Debra Bowen is a person of integrity and she is keeping to her platform to return integrity to our electoral process.
Awesome, awesome, awesome! What better person to oversee the certification and decertification of the e-voting machines than Lowell Finley. NOW, FINALLY, we will have people in the SOS office that don’t swallow (everything they are told by the vendors).
Lowell, my hardiest (or is that heartiest) congratulations to you! You are THE man for the job!
Congratulations on Debra’s inaugration (I watched it live on the Internet).
This is truly a great day for election integrity advocates in CA.
Yikes! I’m going all ferklempt!!!
Right on. Right on. RIGHT ON!
Debra Bowen is inspirational — she’s an example to all of us to just go ahead and jump in. as one of the speakers at her swearing-in said today, no one told her back then she couldn’t possibly win her first time out, so she tried anyway… and won, and has been doing so ever since. she is living proof that one person CAN make a difference.
This is the best news democracy and the State of California has had in years. Congratulations Debra and especially a very hearty congratulations to Brad and the staff at Bradblog. You all are real American heros.
There’s a huge plus in this appointment-
Finley is an attorney who by now has lots of election law experience. He doesn’t have to depend on others to “interpret” the law for him.
I think that independence is just what is needed for this position.
Hallelujah! Let the sun shine in!
This is perhaps the best bit of news I’ve read from Brad Blog. This appointment will actually make a difference.
Thanks, Brad!
Tipping point!
99 — I’m not sure what ferklempt is, but it sounds like something I’m going all…
This is wonderful news and not the time for us to rest on our laurels. Time to push for paper ballots more than ever and go in for the Joe Louis kill.
And then we (and Debra) had better work on election standards and professionalism.
Yiddish for choked up, also spelled verklempt.
Fabulous news!
This has made my day.
Congratulations to Debra, to Mr. Finley, and to us all!!
Now let’s get to work applying the pressure on our federal representatives to force their hand towards paper ballots before the next election.
{Yer going to get in trouble for impersonating an agent. Your man has been banned for cause. Go away. –99}
There’s a man who leads a life of danger
To everyone he meets he stays a stranger
With every move he makes another chance he takes
Odds are he won’t live to see tomorrow
Secret agent man, secret agent man
They’ve given you a number and taken away your name
Beware of pretty faces that you find
A pretty face can hide an evil mind
Ah, be careful what you say
Or you’ll give yourself away
Odds are you won’t live to see tomorrow
Secret agent man, secret agent man
They’ve given you a number and taken away your name
Secret agent man, secret agent man
They’ve given you a number and taken away your name
Swingin’ on the Riviera one day
And then layin’ in the Bombay alley next day
Oh no, you let the wrong word slip
While kissing persuasive lips
The odds are you won’t live to see tomorrow
Secret agent man, secret agent man
They’ve given you a number and taken away your name
Secret agent man
Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers 1966
http://www.johnnyrivers.com/jr/index.php
Secret Agent Man
Oath of office is a big thing in my opinion.
If you break your oath, you should have your security yanked, at the minumum, never be allowed in government again, at the max, life imprison. Obviously this is not happening in the real world. The constitution was destroyed because of this. Okay, wait, backup, because of unvalidatable electronic voting machines that failed, and allowed the corrupt oath breakers into high government.
Do you know your constitutional rights?
I don’t.
I used to what they were.
I would hope that they come back to what I remember. I don’t have much faith in people or government anymore. They don’t care about us. They don’t care about OUR Constitution, why should I care about them anymore.
It’s a good thing Debra is in. I voted for her. I still say my vote didn’t count. Did you count the Single Paper in the Aux Tray out in District 5?
Who knows. It’s irrelevent at this point.
I don’t want that to happen again.
These machines have got to GO.
Let the School Children take them apart and use the parts to learn electronics!
What great news to wake up to this morning here in the Orange State. Lowell was one of the speakers at our National Election Reform Conference in Nashville (April, 2005 — http://www.eternalvigilance.us ) and everyone who met him there was impressed by his calm and deep demeanor and his bedrock determination when it comes to righting the wrongs foisted on us by the HAVA orcs. His appointment in California bodes well for all of us who have been working to save our democracy. Good on ya’, Debra and thanks, Californians. Good things flow from the west once again.
The perfect appointee.
Shuts up the electronic voting machine critics ,yet … listen to them cheer!
I wonder how much it cost? $$$
Voter Beware.
That was far too easy. The fly just might be watching them laugh.
Way cool … imagine the dominoes falling downstream from this event … the other states will take note and will be under pressure to follow up.
Score a victory for democracy, and take one away from the despots.
Wonderful!
My eldest daughter game be a coffee cup called “The Disappearing Bill of Rights”. It has the first 10 amendments on it (in full) and when it gets hot, some of them fade away.
Just like in real life — when the going gets HOT, some of our rights simply fade away.
The good thing is that when the cup cools down, the rights come back.
We need COOL and CALCULATING (and progressive and democratic) people like Bowen to cool down the rush to e-voting and start the process of bringing back the constitutional rights that these Republican scum have stolen for their criminal “Unitary Executive.”
HEAR HEAR for Ms. Bowen. Perhaps a Governor some day? Perhaps a PRESIDENT? At the very least, an Attorney General of the USA.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
we do not believe gov.of ca. would have won had it not been for evoting.his open border policy.will udoubtedly result in a further invasion by mexico.i trust the people of ca.upon discovery of improprieties in election will recall this grinning clown. sincerely bill purser
As significant as this is for the people of California and, potentially, the nation as a whole, the MSM has all but ignored it.
Meanwhile, 4 beachfront mansions destroyed by fire in Malibu is playing over and over and over again on CNN.
Even so called “Liberal” media caters to the wealthy…
Our once great Nation is screwed if the MSM continues to play these kind of games.
Has anyone emailed Keith Olberman and Lou Dobbs about this? They seemed, at least before the last election, to be taking some interest in the issue – or did it fall through the cracks again?
Who else in MSM is reporting this? Anyone?
I think Bowen has made the perfect choice. I believe she’s going to build a staff who will work like hell to weed out the garbage and improve what little voter confidence is left. She didn’t pick an academic or a ‘computer expert’, she picked an attorney with real life experience going after corporate weasels. A good day for us in CA!
There ARE some good people in politics…Debra Bowen: thanks!
Turn up Computer speaker volume and be taught:
Congratulations to Secretary Bowen for her historical fight for open government, and for a government that truly represents the will of the people. I would recommend people watch the video of her inaugural speech.
I was already well pleased that she is our new Secretary of State, and knowledgeable regarding elections and computers. That combination is in stark contrast to the man she replaces. I had great hopes that she would bring strong and much needed reform to the Elections Division. Kevin Shelley made the mistake of being too slow removing the elections staff that remained from the Bill Jones administration. I think that was a factor in the subversion of his brief tenure. It appears that Secretary Bowen will not make the same mistake.
The appointment of Lowell Finley was a very pleasant surprise. Not only is he well qualified in his knowledge of election law, more importantly he understands the spirit behind the election law. We have seen in the last few years that local and state election officials too often placed expediency as a higher priority than the principle that every persons’ vote must be recorded and counted exactly as they intended. We also have seen, and Lowell has personally seen, the efforts of election officials to hide the very processes that we as citizens have a right to understand and see. That includes the failure to follow the law in approving voting systems, the failure of local election officials to abide by the law and procedures for use established by the Secretary, and local election officials preventing the public or even legally permitted experts from watching the critical portions of the electoral process such as the actual vote tabulating.
Lowell Finley and Secretary Bowen are both intelligent, principled, and knowledgeable. I trust that the team they put together will shine the light of day upon the hidden cancer that is the current voting process. The major vendors have foisted defective and ilegal voting systems upon the citizens of this state. The local election officials who refused to listen to all the warnings from the activist community will soon discover that their misplaced allegiance to the vendors and to expediency was a costly misjudgement that has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. They have failed in their duty to their constituencies. The costs exceed more than the monetary, the hidden cost of destroying the confidence of the voters in the electoral process is immeasurable. For that betrayal of the voter there must be accountability.
Thanks also to Brad Blog, VotersUnite, and the many other activists and organizations that were instrumental in getting Secretary Bowen elected. What happens in California during Secretary Bowen’s tenure will have an impact nationally. Hopefully her vision of government, and the electoral process, will be replicated throughout the country.
I wouldn’t be willing to paint the CA elections community with such a broad brush. The local people didn’t certify the systems and some, by law, had to change their system to one certified by the state. Most of those local people are still there and will still be there for the 2008 Primary and those are the people we need to work with. Calling them all crooks isn’t helpful nor is it correct. The crooks must be not only identified but prosecuted. “…support and defend the Constitution…”
Response to Comment 28:
I was careful in my choice of words, and my comments were directed to those “local election officials who refused to listen to all the warnings from the activist community”. That brush is only as broad as it is applicable to those who placed their allegiance (or trust) in the vendors and chose their own self-interests. At no time did I call them “all” crooks or even use that term. There are many conscientious local election officials who do the best they can. Too often their voice is overwhelmed by the power of the larger counties who also heavily enfluence the association of county clerks.
There were a few election officials who “bullied’ the littler counties, orchestrated a revolt against Kevin Shelley’s directives which they lost in court, worked behind the scenes with vendors and DRE supporters in thwarting the efforts of activists including having workshops in how to handle us, refused to allow legally authorized and required observers and inspectors to exercise their rights and duties, and repeatedly thwarted public record requests. I do not expect those who engaged in such actions to “work with us”. Such behavior appears to be much too common throughout the country. The agencies who have engaged in suppressing the public’s right to know starts at the federal level (NASED, The Election Center, EAC) and passes down through the state level and the local level.
Not one of Secretary McPherson’s Conditional Approvals found that the voting system met all the requirements of law. Every one of them listed as one of the “conditions” for approval that it “shall” meet all the requirements of law. Local election officials had the duty to consult with their county counsel to determine the county’s liability if they did not meet all the “conditions”. They also had a duty to investigate and evaluate proposed voting systems in terms of security, reliability, long-term cost, and meeting the requirements of the ADA and HAVA.
I am well-familiar with the efforts of citizens in Los Angeles, Riverside, Alameda, San Diego, and Santa Clara County trying to “work” with their local election officials. Their experiences do not speak well of election officials working with citizens.
I welcome all election officials to make the entire process of holding elections as publicly viewable as possible. They should have nothing to hide and should welcome public input and observation. The relationship should not be adversarial but cooperative. More importantly, election officials should all recognize that it is “our” elections they are conducting, and that public trust that our elections are inclusive and accurate should be the foundation of their decision making.
The possibility of prosecuting an election offical for incompetence, dereliction of duty, or violation of law is practically nill.
Who would’ve imagined that the race for Sec. of State of California would be the most important race of the 2006 mid-term elections? Maybe it’s the most important election since 1932.
Congratulations Ms. Bowen!
Congratulations Mr. Finley!
Congratulations California!
Woo hoo!