The formerly Diebold, formerly Premier, now ES&S Accu-Vote ballot tabulation system is under the gun to meet the state standards for rejecting undervotes.  (We do not use the Accu-Vote)  At the State Board of Elections meeting yesterday we learned that their first go around on testing failed, and now they are making programming changes and retesting.  The State Board of Elections will be testing the equipment on Monday and Tuesday next week in anticipation of a Wednesday morning certification.

This last minute process has those who use the Accu-Vote rightly concerned.  Installing a fix just weeks prior to the election starting is not particularly wise.

And then there’s the cost.  When I wrote about the undervote issue in June, someone suggested that the concern of the clerks might somehow be tied to a cozy relationship with election vendors.  I responded:

As to the vendors, they will be more than happy to charge various clerks for the added expense of programming the election.

As I predicted, ES&S is going to charge each election jurisdiction in the state who uses their Accu-Vote system $135 per machine.  The statewide cost will be $378,000, which counties will be paying to ES&S, not including the costs for staff and other expenses for local jurisdictions.

At at a time when the state is not paying their bills and governments at every level are broke, it is remarkable that the state would saddle the voters with this unnecessary, unconstitutional, and costly requirement.

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