Drug Policy Forum of Texas                     

Figures for

Texas News

 

Drug Policy and Electronic Voting



Suzanne Wills, Drug Policy Observer

Summer, 2007

Drug policy effects a myriad of social issues in which the League in interested. Now a reform organization’s efforts to assure accurate results from an initiative may help produce fairer and more accountable elections around the country.

In November 2004, voters in Berkeley, California were presented with an initiative, known as Measure R, which would have made changes to the state’s medical marijuana rules. The measure lost by 191 votes, according to official results from the Alameda County registrar. The recount showed the measure lost by 166 votes. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the Alliance for Berkeley Patients then asked the county to provide proof that the count was accurate by providing full access to voter records.

Specifically, ASA asked the county to download election results directly from the 420 touch-screen voting machines (which accounted for fifty-three percent of the Berkeley vote), divulge internal access logs to show no one had manipulated the software during or after the election and to see chain-of-custody records for the electronic data as it moved from the voting machines to memory cards to a central tabulating machine and result printouts.

Two successive county elections chiefs argued that a single version of the electronic ballot stored on removable and rewritable PC cards were the only official ballots needed for a recount.

For two years the county refused to provide the requested records. After a state appeals court sided with ASA, county election officials returned the voting machines to the manufacturer, Diebold, rather than allow ASA access. This led to a sharp rebuke from the judge hearing the case, created the possibility of punitive fines against the county, and allowed a replay of the initiative in the 2008 election.

Source: Americans for Safe Access Monthly Activist Newsletter, June 2007

June, 2007

ASA Wins Big Victory for Voters in Election Recount Suit

Voting Procedures Thwart Tally Check on Medical Marijuana Measure

ASA's litigation over a narrowly lost local medical marijuana initiative may result in fairer and more accountable election results around the country. The ability to re-count ballots cast on electronic voting machines is at issue, and a judge is now siding with ASA, saying election officials must be able to verify vote counts and show the machines were working properly.

"This is already a big victory for voters, but we're looking to the long term," said Don Duncan, an ASA board member who has been involved in the lawsuit. "We're trying to be good stewards of democracy."

In November 2004, voters in Berkeley, California were presented with an initiative, known as Measure R, which would have replaced a 10-plant cultivation limit established by the City Council with an open-ended amount based on the patient's "personal needs," defined by a doctor and the patient. It also would have relaxed zoning laws for dispensaries and set up a peer review committee to oversee operations at the city's three dispensaries. The initiative was in response to the council's failure to adopt a proposal to increase the number of medical cannabis plants from 10 to 72.

Angel Raich at the Berkeley City Council during the Measure R campaign.

The measure lost by 191 votes, according to official results from the Alameda County registrar. The recount showed the measure lost by a narrower margin of 166 votes. ASA and the Alliance for Berkeley Patients then asked the county to provide proof that the count was accurate by providing full access to voter records.

The origins of the case and the discarding of evidence are rooted in the conviction by two successive county elections chiefs that they could conduct an election recount as they wished and be the sole determiners of what was relevant for a recount. Both argued that a single version of the electronic ballot stored on removable and rewritable PC cards were the only official ballots needed for a recount. ASA argued that more data was needed to verify the result.

Specifically, ASA said the county must download results directly from the 420 touch-screen voting machines - which accounted for fifty-three percent of the Berkeley vote -- and divulge internal access logs to show no one had manipulated the software during or after the election. ASA also asked to see chain-of-custody records for the electronic data as it moved from the voting machines to memory cards to a central tabulating machine and result printouts.

Instead, the county refused for two years to provide those records. After a state appeals court sided with ASA, county election officials returned the voting machines to the manufacturer, Diebold, rather than allow ASA access.

This led to a sharp rebuke from the judge hearing the case and created the possibility of punitive fines against the county, as well as a replay of the initiative in the 2008 election.

Link your Randall's/Tom Thumb Reward Card to our account.  The store will pay us a percentage of your purchases.  Our number is 9656.

Kroger will donate an amount equal to 1% of your purchases to DPFT.   You must have your DPFT Share Card scanned at the time of purchase.  The cards are the size of a business card.  They should be kept with or attached to your Kroger Plus card.  Contact suzy@dpft.org to get a card.


Copyright © 2004 Drug Policy of Texas dpft.org. All Rights Reserved.

Google    
   Search WWW          Search www.dpft.org