November 20, 2003

 

Secretary of State Jan Brewer
Capitol Executive Tower, 7th Floor
1700 W Washington St
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2888

Dear Secretary of State Brewer,

It has become evident that recent election proceedings in Tucson and Pima County have violated state law. The 2002 Pima County and 2003 City of Tucson primary and general elections were conducted on election equipment running uncertified software and firmware. This violates ARS §16-442.

Pima County and the City of Tucson use the optical scan equipment provided by Diebold Election Systems. Pima County owns the AccuVote readers used at each precinct and at the Central Counting facility. The City of Tucson leases the equipment for city elections. Each jurisdiction owns and operates its own Central Count computer and software, called the Global Election Management System (GEMS).

Software and firmware version numbers were provided by the Pima County Division of Elections and the Tucson City Clerks Office. The specific violations are as follows:

• The AccuVote precinct readers use firmware version 1.94. Version 1.94w appeared on the state certification list on 11/7/03, after the city general election, but was backdated to October. This version was therefore certified after the primary election and most likely after the general election. It is also not clear if 1.94 and 1.94w are the same.
• The central count readers use firmware version 2.0.11. This version is not state certified nor does it appear on the list of equipment approved by the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), dated 1/3/03.
• Pima County used GEMS version 1.17.20 in the 2002 election and it is still installed on their computer. This version is not state certified nor NASED approved.
• The City of Tucson is using GEMS version 1.17.23. This version is not state certified nor NASED approved.

These violations are especially troubling in light of the recent discoveries about the poor quality of Diebold software, especially with respect to security.

The state certification process is the only mechanism we have in Arizona to protect our election systems, and this process has been neglected. This raises serious concerns about the validity of Arizona elections. A similar situation in California (Alameda County), also involving Diebold Election Systems, has resulted in an independent audit of all California voting systems.

In order to protect the public interest, the Secretary of State should conduct an audit of all Arizona election systems. We hereby request that an audit be conducted and if the Secretary of State should decide not to conduct an audit, we ask to be notified of the reasons. In addition, penalties should be imposed on vendors that violate the certification process. Election officials should be held responsible for conducting elections on uncertified systems.

We are also concerned that the NASED and State election system approval processes are flawed because a) the NASED's Independent Testing Authority has approved software that is known to be at risk of compromise, and b) the state's certification committee cannot adequately evaluate the software and firmware since they are considered by the vendors to be a trade secret.

It is in the public interest to investigate the state certification process to ensure that the election systems are adequately reviewed. The Secretary of State should review both the State and NASED approval processes to ensure that only secure software of the highest quality is used in Arizona elections.

For most people, voting is the most important action they take to directly participate in our democratic system of government. If the voting process cannot be trusted, our democracy is in trouble. We trust that the Secretary of State shares these views and will conduct the investigations we have requested.

Please inform us promptly regarding the steps you will take to address these issues.

Sincerely,

 

Thomas W Ryan
Committee on Pima County Electronic Vote Counting Procedures and Safeguards
9115 E Sierra St, Tucson, AZ 85710
(520) 722-1796
twmjryan@earthlink.net

 

William Risner
Risner and Graham, Attorneys at Law
100 N Stone Ave #901, Tucson, AZ 85701
(520) 622-7494
bill@risnerandgraham.com

Cc:
Governor Janet Napolitano
Attorney General Terry Goddard
State Director of Elections, Mary Jo Kief
Tucson City Council
City Manager James Keene
Pima County Board of Supervisors
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry
Pima County Recorder, F. Ann Rodriguez
Pima County Elections Director, Brad Nelson
Tucson City Clerk, Kathy Detrick