Complaint filed with Debra Bowen about "One of the Worst Election Officials in the Country."

[Stevepol]

Brad Friedman has a good article about a complaint just filed with the new CA SoS, Debra Bowen. Friedman calls the elections official in SD, Mikel Haas, the one who oversaw the infamous Busby-Bilbray elecion fiasco, "one of the worst election officials in the country."

COMPLAINT FILED WITH NEW CA SoS AGAINST SAN DIEGO COUNTY'S REGISTRAR MIKEL HAAS


SD County's Registrar of Voters, Mikel Haas, has attracted the attention of The BRAD BLOG for many months as "one of the worst elections officials in the country." His policy of sending pre-programmed, election-ready Diebold voting machines home with poll workers weeks in advance of elections, without any training on security or assurance that the machines would be held in a secure environment, likewise attracted the ire of many San Diego County voters.

snip....

The voting machine "sleepover" policy is one example of the disregard by the Registrar of Voters of the proven vulnerabilities of the Diebold machines, which can be hacked in one minute and made to change the outcome of an election. In defending the sleepover policy, Mr. Haas points to the "tamper-evident" tape used to seal the memory card compartment as sufficient security against fraud. But, when one observer discovered on election day that the tape had been removed from the machines at two precincts, and reported the violation of the certification requirements to Mr. Haas, he refused to take the machines out of service and allowed voters to cast their votes on the then-uncertified machines...

snip...

Mr. Haas undermined the audit by "randomly" selecting the precincts to be audited before the votes from the precincts had been counted. That allowed the canvass to proceed with the foreknowledge of which precincts would be checked before workers completed the canvass. When the canvass revealed discrepancies, Mr. Haas certified the election without resolving the discrepancies as required by law.

Responding to the complaint will be a test for Secretary Bowen. She will either show voters that she will not tolerate elections officials who violate election laws, or she will show them that she is not up to the task of challenging those who care more about their own convenience than the integrity of elections.

More at the link.

Link: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4162

[kster]

1. Bowen

will not let us down.


K&R