Painting Happy Faces on Black Boxes

By Diane Farsetta, AlterNet. Posted August 2, 2004.

Last week it was reported that nearly all of Miami-Dade County's records of votes cast on electronic voting machines in the 2002 gubernatorial primary were lost (the information later turned up, but serious questions remain), and that Florida's Republican Party was warning voters, "Electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot.... Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot today." That's two more heavy straws added to the back of an already unhappy camel.

It's amazing how far the reputation of electronic voting has fallen. On November 9, 2000, Texas-based e-voting company Hart InterCivic bragged, "Electronic voting and reporting can be instrumental in avoiding the situation we're seeing in the Presidential election.... If Florida had used an e-voting system, we'd know the winner already, and there would be a party going on right now in Austin or Nashville."

Actually, the Florida 2000 debacle was due, in part, to an e-voting glitch. In a Florida precinct where just over 400 people voted, machines registered 2,813 votes for Bush and negative 16,022 votes for Gore. USA Today reported that on election night "the decision desks of the five networks and the Associated Press... were looking at models that included the negative Gore count."

As the undeniably sorry state of U.S. elections and the strong civil rights, disabled rights and voting rights activism pushed Congress to pass the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in October 2002, e-voting companies were celebrating what one industry analysis called a "tremendous market opportunity."

Around the same time, expert critiques of and troubling incidents with e-voting systems multiplied to the point of attracting major media attention. In response, the "only trade association representing the broad spectrum of the world-leading U.S. [information technology] industry" urged e-voting companies to unite under a public relations banner, and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) took the lead.

The ITAA lobbies on behalf of its more than 400 U.S. corporate and 50 foreign association members. Its political action committee focuses on taxes, outsourcing and other issues important to high-tech industries. ITAA's Enterprise Solutions Director, Michael Kerr, developed an E-voting Industry Coalition Draft Plan in late 2002, to "create confidence and trust," "promote the adoption of technology-based solutions," and "repair short-term damage done by negative reports and media coverage." The plan advocates outreach to media, elected officials, those "involved in the purchase decision," academics, the general public, "international counterparts," and government contractors (in that order) to promote electronic voting as the "gold standard." Kerr's plan concludes by stressing that e-voting companies could benefit from ITAA's "sophisticated government affairs and public relations apparatus" and "track record of lobbying for federal funding."

Activist Bev Harris obtained the ITAA plan and posted it on her website, blackboxvoting.org. Kerr subsequently downplayed its importance, calling it "just a standard trade association plan," according to Wired News. But other activists who joined an industry conference call reported that ITAA president Harris Miller said the plan was carefully worded, because "we just didn't want a document floating around saying the election industry is in trouble, so they decided to put together a lobbying campaign."

In October 2003, Kerr told Technology Daily that the e-voting companies had not yet decided whether to implement his plan, but that he expected a decision "fairly soon." On December 9, ITAA announced the formation of the Election Technology Council (ETC), directed by Michael Kerr. ETC's founding members are Advanced Voting Systems, Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems & Software, Hart InterCivic, Sequoia and Unilect.

Diane Farsetta is the Center for Media and Democracy's Senior Researcher. A longer version of this article appeared in the last issue of the Center's quarterly journal, PR Watch. More information on electronic voting industry PR can be found on the Center's interactive research website, disinfopedia.org.

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