MAINE’S CLEAN ELECTIONS

Unlike many other states, Maine has not rushed into unproven, manipulation-prone touch-screen voting machines, which may well lead elsewhere to confusion, fraud, protest and delay in the approaching presidential election. Maine’s Elections Division, a branch of the Department of the Secretary of State, has had the wisdom to stick this time with the paper ballots and electronic counting system that has worked well. And next year, when Maine must turn to at least some electronic voting machines to comply with the new federal Help Americans Vote Act, our state is bound by state law to require a verifiable paper trail to permit a recount in the event of any dispute.

Why are some other states heading for likely trouble with their new voting machines? The difference, according to a New York Times report on the situation, is the cozy relationships in some states between their election officials and the voting-machine industry. The companies naturally want to sell their machines, and they often oppose paper trails and measures to ensure against partisan manipulation of the devices. So they often have enlisted the support of election officials by offering personal gifts, consulting fees and even jobs.

The Times reports that the secretary of state in California in 2003 left office and quickly became a consultant to Sequoia Voting Systems, while his assistant secretary of state also took a fulltime job there. The report said that secretaries of state in Florida and Georgia have signed on as lobbyists for Election Systems and Software and Diebold Election systems.

Does anything like this go on in Maine? Deputy Secretary of State Julie L. Flynn, who supervises the Elections Division, answered a series of questions on the subject. Have any members of the division staff taken or received job offers from the voting machine industry? “No.” Have any of them been paid or offered pay as consultants as consultants by the industry? “No.” Have any of them received or been offered gifts at industry meetings? “No.” Have members of the voting machine industry provided pressure on the question of verifiable paper trail? “No pressure. The Elections Division has sought and received information about various voting machines.” Finally, does the Elections Division have stated policy on how its staff should respond to any such approaches from the industry? “Maine state law prohibits the acceptance of gifts that have monetary value. We follow that law carefully.”

With those straight answers, and with a transparent selection system, and with the growing oversight by the Legislature and citizen groups, Maine should get through the transition to electronic voting in an open, honest and effective manner.