U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting

Prorev

A laboratory that has tested most of the nation’s electronic voting systems has been temporarily barred from approving new machines after federal officials found that it was not following its quality-control procedures and could not document that it was conducting all the required tests. The company, Ciber Inc. of Greenwood Village, Colo., has also come under fire from analysts hired by New York State over its plans to test new voting machines for the state. New York could eventually spend $200 million to replace its aging lever devices.

Experts on voting systems say the Ciber problems underscore longstanding worries about lax inspections in the secretive world of voting-machine testing. The action by the federal Election Assistance Commission seems certain to fan growing concerns about the reliability and security of the devices.

The commission acted last summer, but the problem was not disclosed then. Officials at the commission and Ciber confirmed the action in recent interviews.

Ciber, the largest tester of the nation’s voting machine software, says it is fixing its problems and expects to gain certification soon.

Experts say the deficiencies of the laboratory suggest that crucial features like the vote-counting software and security against hacking may not have been thoroughly tested on many machines now in use.

“What’s scary is that we’ve been using systems in elections that Ciber had certified, and this calls into question those systems that they tested,” said Aviel D. Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins.

[Unmentioned in the Times story was Ciber’s strong GOP connections]

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 2004 - At Greenwood Village-based Ciber, employees and some spouses have donated more than $72,000 to GOP candidates and groups during the 2001-2002 and 2003-2004 election cycles, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

AP, DEC 21 - The chairman of information technology consultant Ciber Inc. sold 25,000 shares of common stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday. In a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Bobby G. Stevenson reported he sold the shares on Wednesday for about $6.71 apiece.

AP, 2004 - Despite concerns over whether the so-called touch screen machines can be trusted, the testing companies won’t say publicly if they have encountered shoddy workmanship. . . In Huntsville, the window blinds were closed when a reporter visited the office suite where Ciber Inc. employees test voting machine software. A woman who unlocked the door said no one inside could answer questions about testing.