Trial Set for Suit on Voting Machines

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that a landmark lawsuit seeking greater reliability in California’s vote-counting methods can move forward.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson, in a decision made public Tuesday, rebuffed the California secretary of state’s motion to dismiss the suit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California on behalf of several organizations and individuals. Wilson has set a Jan. 14 trial date for the suit against the secretary of state’s office.

The suit alleges that the wide variety of voting machines used in California has resulted in sharply disparate levels of accuracy in vote counts.

The suit, filed in April, also contends that “a disproportionate number of votes in some counties”--including Los Angeles--are not counted because of antiquated, inaccurate pre-scored punch card voting machines.

Moreover, the suit, one of several filed across the nation after last year’s controversial presidential election, asserts that “a disproportionate number of African American, Latino and Asian American voters do not have their votes counted at all” because of malfunctioning machines.

California’s current procedures violate equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act, according to the suit.

Secretary of State Bill Jones, the state’s chief election official, contended that the suit was flawed because California’s counties--not the state--make individual decisions on what voting machines they will use.

Wilson disagreed.

“Plaintiff’s choice of the secretary of state as a defendant is appropriate,” Wilson wrote in the first major ruling in Common Cause, et al., vs. Bill Jones.

“Plaintiff claims that the denial of the right to vote arises from the collective choices of voting systems by various counties. No choice by any single county is the source of the problem. Hence the only way to address the problem is to change the provision [of state law] which allows counties to choose voting systems of widely disparate quality.

“The secretary of state is the individual with the authority to make this change,” Wilson said.

In November’s election, 53.4% of California voters, including those in Los Angeles County, used machines designed for “pre-scored” punch cards, similar to those that created problems with hanging chads in Florida.

Ballots cast using those machines accounted for 74.8% of all ballots that did not register a vote for president in California, according to the suit.

If the plaintiffs prevail, the state would be required to prevent counties from using unreliable machines. The plaintiffs are not attempting to make every county use the same type of machine, ACLU attorney Dan Tokaji said.

Plaintiffs include Common Cause, the AFL-CIO, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Southwest Voter Registration Project and the Chicano Leadership Federation of San Diego County.