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Election Center

Revision as of 00:53, 31 August 2005 by 83.237.185.156

According to its website, the Election Center is "a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, and improving democracy. Its members are government employees whose profession is to serve in voter registration and elections administration." [1]

Contents

History

According to the website of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the "Election Center Inc." was incorporated on January 18, 1980. There is no information on file regarding the officers and directors of the Center. [2]

The Election Center appears to have been reincorporated in the state of Virginia on October 23, 1990, according to the website of the Clerk's Information System (CIS) of the Virginia State Corporation Commission [3]. It is not possible to link to pages from the CIS, therefore references for CIS results are provided as screengrabs in this article.

The registered agent cited on the Virginia filing is Beverley L. Crump, an attorney from Richmond, VA, effective from February 7, 1997. The previous agent, according to the VA filing, was Carol D. Garner. [4]

Carol Garner is mentioned in an early reference to the Center in the Usenet archive. According to a posting from September 1988, a panel discussion on "Accuracy in Computer-Tabulated Elections" took place at George Washington University on 4th October 1988. One of the participants is described as "Carol Garner, Director of the Election Center (a nonprofit organization for election officials; the closest thing they have to the ACM, and moving slowly in that direction)." [5]

Since 1994, the director of the Center has been R. Doug Lewis [6].

Officers and directors of the Election Center

The corporate filing for the Election Center in Virginia lists the following individuals, as at September 13, 2004 [7]:

Funding of the Election Center by e-voting machine manufacturers

Critics of the organization contend that it acts as a front group for e-voting machine vendors. In March 2004, a mistake by the IRS inadvertently revealed that e-voting machine vendor Sequoia had donated $10,000 per year to the Center from 1997 through 2000. The story was broken by the Philadelphia Inquirer [8].

When challenged by the Inquirer, the Center's executive director R. Doug Lewis confirmed that the center had taken donations from the following makers of electronic voting machines [9]:

Sponsorship of events at the Election Center's annual conference

In August 2004, the Election Center held its annual conference for election officials in Washington, DC. A number of events were sponsored by e-voting machine manufacturers [10]:

  • Wed Aug 25, 2004: Welcome Reception. Sponsored by Diebold Election Systems.
  • Thurs Aug 26, 2004: A Dinner Cruise on the Potomac and Monuments by Night Tour. Co-sponsored by Sequoia Voting Systems.
  • Fri Aug 27, 2004: Graduation Luncheon and Awards Ceremony. Sponsored by Electronic Systems & Software Inc.

Public relations companies known to have worked for the Election Center

A 1999 resume for PR operative Judith A. Schweich, published online, lists the Election Center as having been a client of her company Valley Associates between October 1990 and August 1993 [11].

EC's role accrediting testers of donors machines

Electronic voting machines, in the United States, are tested by independent testing authorities. The companies permitted to act as ITAs are designated by the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED). The Election Center acts as secretariat for NASED. [12]

"General Overview for Getting a Voting System Qualified", a document available on the Election Center's website, gives further information about the relationship between the Center, NASED, and the ITAs: "The Center serves as NASED's day-to-day management company for working with the ITAs, with the FEC and with the states. The Center has no authority to pass or fail any system, but works with the local jurisdictions in answering questions concerning the manufacturer's products (at least those qualified or not qualified under the FVSS). The Center serves as the focal point for coordination among the FEC, NASED and state and local jurisdictions and the ITAs. The ITAs DO NOT and WILL NOT respond to outside inquiries about the testing process for voting systems, nor will they answer questions related to a specific manufacturer or a specific voting system. They have neither the staff nor the time to explain the process to the public, the news media or jurisdictions. All such inquiries are to be directed to The Election Center on behalf of NASED." [13] [14]

In a 2003 telephone interview with e-voting activist Bev Harris, the Center's director R. Doug Lewis agreed with a more straightforward statement of the Election Center's role in the selection of ITAs. Harris recounts the following exchange:

Harris: "Mr Lewis, I understand that your organization is the one that, basically, certifies the certifiers of the voting machines, is that correct?"
Lewis: "Yes."

Harris notes that this is not strictly true, and wonders whether "perhaps he misunderstood my question". [15]

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