Reply #5: Shelley created 'crisis,' elections official says

[MelissaB]

Shelley created 'crisis,' elections official says

Counties must get machines certified in time for 2006 voting

By Dan Smith, Sacramento Bee
February 5, 2005

SACRAMENTO --A top county elections official says Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's administration has created a "full-blown crisis" that threatens the state's compliance with federal law and its ability to conduct the 2006 elections.

In testimony prepared for a legislative committee, Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters Conny McCormack blasted Shelley's process for approving voting machine systems the counties must purchase and suggested he had manipulated the system "to favor or punish some equipment vendors." She called on the Legislature to step in and take over the process.


"County election officials have concluded that the voting system certification process in California is completely broken," McCormack, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, wrote to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee scrutinizing Shelley's alleged misuse of millions in federal Help America Vote Act funds.

Charges 'absolutely bunk'

Shelley spokeswoman Caren Daniels-Meade defended Shelley's certification process, calling any suggestion of political manipulation "absolutely bunk." McCormack, Daniels-Meade said, simply disagrees with Shelley's support of a requirement that electronic voting machines have a verified paper trail.

More: http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/state/article/0,1375,VCS_122_3526025,00.html