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Press
Contact: |
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAYOR
BATES CALLS FOR FULL INVESTIGATION OF VOTING PROBLEMS IN ALAMEDA COUNTY
Failure of
voting machinery, miscounts, and programming problems prompt Mayor Bates
to ask for full investigation, request Berkeley staff to examine options
if issues not resolved. Berkeley, CA –
In response to serious voting problems encountered by Berkeley
voters and others during the March election, Mayor Tom Bates is calling
for a full investigation into the new Diebold touch screen voting systems
now used by Alameda County. He
is also requesting that City staff begin an analysis of Berkeley’s
options if the recent problems are not resolved. A number of Berkeley polling
places experienced failure of ballot-access card encoders, which shut down
the touch screen systems and led some voters to be turned away from the
polls. A number of other
failures of the Diebold voting systems have also been widely reported in
the press. Recently, Alameda
County Registrar of Voters Brad Clark sent a letter to Diebold Election
Systems indicating failures ranging from unspecified programming errors to
thousands of miscounted absentee ballots. “The very serious voting
problems encountered over the last year are testing people’s faith in
the integrity of our electoral system,” said Mayor Tom Bates.
“Every person needs to be absolutely certain that their vote will
count. That is why I am requesting that Alameda County conduct a
full investigation of the problems we have seen and issue a public report
detailing the findings and remedies prior to the November election.” Mayor Bates has written a letter to Alameda County Registrar of Voters Brad Clark with this request. In addition, he has placed an item on the April 20th City Council agenda that would direct city staff to begin looking at options if the problems are not resolved. #
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