Should SoS Brunner's July Bd. of Voting Machine Examiners Meeting Follow the OH Legislature's Recently-Passed Sub.HB350?

In addition to questions about the possibility of Secretary Brunner calling a meeting of her Bd. of Voting Machine Examiners to possibly release some deficiencies of Hart InterCivic's equipment - almost two weeks AFTER the CCBOE's bidding process which included Hart and ES&S - and which ended with ES&S's higher bid, and partly non-certified equipment getting adopted, another question comes to mind.

Should this Bd. of Voting Machine Examiners meeting now be following the new composition rules, as set out in this month's OH Legislature, pre-summer-recess passage of Sub. HB350 ? (And what exactly are the qualifications for this Ohio certifying board that would seem to necessitate proper scientific expertise, similar to the tradition of EVEREST, for proper OH certification?)


In addition to making many key changes to Ohio elections, this now enrolled, huge bill proposed to amend ORC 3506.05, re: the composition of the Bd. of Voting Machine Examiners -

• to include 4 members, not 3;
• only 2 of whom are selected by the Secretary of State, not all;
• and with the 2 others (also presumably found qualified,) to be selected by leading members of the OH House and Senate, who are of the opposite political party from the SoS.
  

The SoS press release in the previous post, however, lists the names of only the 3 only-Brunner selectees, Davis-Chappell, Fellows, and Moots; and includes the one replacement for the Allen County BOE Director, R-Keith Cunningham, whose position on this Board some say she terminated because of his disagreement with her position on touchscreen voting, some say on more partisan or personal grounds, some say a combination.

More specifically, I copy below only a small part of Sub. HB350 in this regard:

(B) No voting machine, marking device, automatic tabulating equipment, or software for the purpose of casting or tabulating votes or for communications among systems involved in the tabulation, storage, or casting of votes shall be purchased, leased, put in use, or continued to be used, except for experimental use as provided in division (B) of section 3506.04 of the Revised Code, unless it, a manual of procedures governing its use, and training materials, service, and other support arrangements have been certified by the secretary of state and unless the board of elections of each county where the equipment will be used has assured that a demonstration of the use of the equipment has been made available to all interested electors. The secretary of state shall appoint a board of voting machine examiners to examine and approve equipment and its related manuals and support arrangements. The board shall consist of one competent and experienced election officer and two persons who are knowledgeable about the operation of such equipment, who four members, who shall be appointed as follows:

(1) Two members appointed by the secretary of state.

2) One member appointed by either the speaker of the house of representatives or the minority leader of the house of representatives, whichever is a member of the opposite political party from the one to which the secretary of state belongs.

(3) One member appointed by either the president of the senate or the minority leader of the senate, whichever is a member of the opposite political party from the one to which the secretary of state belongs.

In all cases of a tie vote or a disagreement in the board, if no decision can be arrived at, the board shall submit the matter in controversy to the secretary of state, who shall summarily decide the question, and the secretary of state's decision shall be final. Each member of the board shall be a competent and experienced election officer or a person who is knowledgeable about the operation of voting equipment and shall serve during the secretary of state's term. Any vacancy on the board shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment. The secretary of state shall provide staffing assistance to the board, at the board's request.

For the member's service, each member of the board shall receive three hundred dollars per day for each combination of marking device, tabulating equipment, and voting machine examined and reported, but in no event shall a member receive more than six hundred dollars to examine and report on any one marking device, item of tabulating equipment, or voting machine. Each member of the board shall be reimbursed for expenses the member incurs during an examination or during the performance of any related duties that may be required by the secretary of state. Reimbursement of these expenses shall be made in accordance with, and shall not exceed, the rates provided for under section 126.31 of the Revised Code.

Neither the secretary of state nor the board, nor any public officer who participates in the authorization, examination, testing, or purchase of equipment, shall have any pecuniary interest in the equipment or any affiliation with the vendor.

-snip-

Too large a topic to thoroughly delve into here - and which some title an "election reform" bill - Sub.HB350 also also includes other changes very pertinent to this current discussion about which voting system vendors (and which election officials?) can get "approved" under the Brunner's administration. For instance, the bill makes changes to the certification requirements for all Ohio voting equipment purchased after December, 2008, (except that which is additional to what is already in hand) needing to meet the most current federal certification requirements.

Since Sub.HB350 is shown as "enrolled" by this 127th Ohio Congress; and though still without Strickland's signature, shows that governor's-signature 10-day waiting time ended on 6/17/08 maybe someone here can comment on when and how this bill actually goes into effect; and whether this SoS July meeting of her Bd. of Voting Machine Examiners about Hart qualifications should be following the bill's provisions and/or the spirit of them.