- Ehrlich Says Md. Unprepared for Voting; Governor Raises Reliability Issues.
- Post, 16 Feb 2006 (by Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post Staff Writer).
Seven months before Maryland's primary election, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) said yesterday that he lacks confidence in the State Board of Elections to conduct fair contests, and he called for a paper trail to verify results from touch-screen voting machines and a delay in plans for early voting.
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Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert) said Ehrlich's comments were an attempt to "create confusion and chaos" and dissuade the General Assembly from moving ahead with plans for early voting.
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- Md. Official Resists Call to Change Voting System.
- Post, 17 Feb 2006 (by Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post Staff Writer).
The state's top elections official declared her confidence in Maryland's voting machines yesterday and said that changing systems seven months before the primary election would be a "catastrophe" and a waste of money.
Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone's comments came one day after Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) questioned the reliability of the state's touch-screen machines and called for a system that provides a paper record to verify election results.
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- Maryland’s elections mess.
- Gazette, 17 Feb 2006 (Blair Lee, Columnist).
. . . Professor Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins elections expert, recently wrote that Maryland has ‘‘one of the most insecure and unauditable voting systems in the country ...”
Now the Democratic-controlled state legislature has passed a series of reckless elections changes that make things even worse. Nor do the safeguards you describe, which worked under our old system, plug the loopholes created by the new changes. . .
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So why not postpone provisional ballots and early voting until the 2008 election just as Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and state elections officials all recommended?
Because the top concern of Maryland’s Democrats is defeating Republicans, not the integrity of our elections. That’s why statehouse Democrats are pushing through a bill that restores voting rights to 150,000 felons, a move endorsed by the state Democratic Party, which expects most of these ex-cons to vote Democratic.
[More].
- Senators agree with Ehrlich: Vote machines are a cause for concern.
- Gazette, 17 Feb 2006 (by Jared S. Hopkins, Capital News Service).
State lawmakers followed Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s lead Thursday in expressing concerns about the reliability of the state’s electronic voting machines.
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- Voting Machine Bill Moves Through Senate.
- Sentinel, 16 Feb 2006 (by Melissa J. Brachfeld, Sentinel Staff Writer).
The Maryland senate version of the "paper trail" bill, legislation that would give voters a paper receipt after casting a vote, was proposed last Tuesday with wide support from both Democrats and Republicans, pulling in 23 co-sponsors of the bill from both parties.
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Del. Pauline Menes (D-Prince George's County) said she knows some delegates who are avidly in support of the legislation, but that she could not speak for the whole general assembly. She said the passage of the bill would depend on public hearings and what the Maryland State Board of Elections and county board of elections will have to say about the legislation.
Del. Menes herself said there are issues to weigh, such as the cost of implementing a voter verified paper trail, and that she would like to learn more about it before she reaches a decision.
"I would like to feel that we have the most secure voting system available, though," Del. Menes said.
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