Smartmatic Sequoia Voting Systems Misuses Brennan Center's Report on Voting Technology

Sequoia Voting Systems, a manufacturer of electronic voting equipment, has wrongfully used the Brennan Center’s report on voting machines to promote its Direct Record Electronic ('DRE') Voting System. T

he Machinery of Democracy: Usability of Voting Systems is a comprehensive study that calls attention to potential problems with the usability of new electronic voting technology, and provides recommendations to improve the systems.

The Brennan Center does not rate or endorse any voting systems or products. The report, in fact, finds Sequoia’s data incomparable to other electronic voting equipment because of the unique ballot system used only in Nevada. Click here to read The Machinery of Democracy: Usability of Voting Systems.


Here is the original misleading Smartmatic-Sequoia Press Release:


SEQUOIA VOTING SYSTEMS' AVC EDGE RECEIVES BEST RATING IN NEW BRENNAN CENTER REPORT ON USABILITY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Michelle M. Shafer, 800.347.4702
mshafer@sequoiavote.com


SEQUOIA VOTING SYSTEMS' AVC EDGE RECEIVES BEST RATING IN NEW BRENNAN CENTER REPORT ON USABILITY

Used in Nevada for 2004 Presidential election, Sequoia's DRE with VVPAT produces lowest residual vote rate of all voting systems

Full-Faced DRE most secure, reliable, accessible and accurate
voting solution for New York


NEW YORK, NY, September 20, 2006 - Sequoia Voting Systems' AVC Edge, a touch screen Direct Record Electronic (DRE) voting system, received the top usability rating of any voting machine in the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law's recent report. The Center's report compared the residual vote rate (total undervotes and overvotes) of various voting systems. Sequoia's AVC Edge, which was used statewide in Nevada for the 2004 presidential election, produced a residual vote rate of 0.3% - significantly lower than all other comparable systems.
"The Brennan Center report affirms that the AVC Edge has the lowest residual vote rate of any voting system - something Nevadans already knew and New Yorkers and the rest of the country should strongly consider when choosing their voting technology," said Jack Blaine, President of Sequoia Voting Systems.
The Brennan Center report compiled and analyzed data for each major voting system used in the 2004 presidential election. Central-Count Optical Scan systems, (voters mark a paper ballot that is scanned by a computer at a central location) and Precinct Count Optical Scan (voters mark a paper ballot that is scanned at the precinct) produced a residual vote rate of 1.7% and 0.7% respectively.
In addition, Sequoia's touch screen DREs can be used by all voters, including voters with accessibility challenges, meeting the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Section 301 requirement for the placement of one accessible voting machine in every polling place. As a result, Sequoia's DREs allow all voters to use the same system.
"For the first time, thanks to Sequoia's touch screen DRE, many voters with accessibility challenges can now cast their ballots privately and independently - finally leveling the field and allowing all citizens to vote in an equal manner," added Jack Blaine.
Moreover, for jurisdictions requiring a full-faced ballot, Sequoia has designed the Advantage Plus Touch Screen, its newest DRE.
"In states like New York, where voters have used full-faced ballots for decades, they will surely be more comfortable with full-faced DREs, a proven system that mirrors the lever voting experience. The Advantage Plus Touch Screen has all the features that made the AVC Edge so successful - plus a full-faced ballot to provide voters a seamless transition from their existing system," said Jack Blaine.
In fact, history shows that voters who are accustomed to full-faced ballots may find the switch to full-faced DRE ballots easier and more seamless. For example, in Ocean County, New Jersey, a jurisdiction which shares New York's history of using a full-faced ballot, voters prefer the full-faced DRE system to all other options.
"When we transitioned away from the lever machine, we chose a paper-based ballot system, but after years of using the lever machine, voters found it confusing and difficult to use. Then we switched to the full-faced DRE and it's been smooth sailing for our voters ever since," said Ocean County Clerk Carl W. Block.
In addition, Sequoia will bring more than 1,000 jobs to New York State if selected to provide DRE voting systems. Sequoia's DRE equipment is manufactured in Tioga County (Harvard Manufacturing) and Suffolk County (Jaco Electronics), and 75% of all components included in the manufacture of Sequoia DREs come directly from suppliers throughout New York. In the Empire State since 1892, Sequoia has a long and rich history of providing jobs and top quality service to New Yorkers.


Additional Facts about full-faced DREs

Ø Security: DREs with a voter verified paper trail provide the highest level of security - permitting rapid and thorough audits to verify electronic results.
Ø Stand-alone System: None of Sequoia's DREs are networked or connected to the Internet - making each machine ultra secure.
Ø Multilingual: DREs allow citizens to vote in their primary language (as allowable by law in each jurisdiction), reducing confusion and errors with a simple and easy-to-use ballot.
Ø Tested Technology: With a 20+ year track record, DRE systems are a proven technology for secure, reliable, accessible and accurate elections.

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About Sequoia Voting Systems (www.sequoiavote.com)
Sequoia Voting Systems is an American company, based in Oakland, California with a 100-year history of providing accurate, reliable, state-of-the-art voting solutions dating back to the nation's first lever-based mechanical voting equipment in the 1890s. Sequoia provides election technology, services and support to state and local governments including precinct-based optical scan ballot readers, high-speed central count optical scan ballot readers, ballot layout and printing services, and full-face and paginating electronic voting equipment with optional printers that produce voter verifiable paper records. The company has hundreds of customers throughout 20 states and the District of Columbia.

Sequoia has been providing electronic voting equipment for twenty-five years and leads the industry with our AVC Advantage full-face push button electronic voting system and the AVC Edge touchscreen system. For more information, please visit www.sequoiavote.com

IBD: Chicago Dems Praised for Probing Smartmatic Chavez Link

http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=243730519120606&view=1Much


TOO COZY WITH CHAVEZ

FROM INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 9/21/2006

Politics: It's good to see Democrats put country above politics, as many did in repudiating Hugo Chavez's lunatic attacks on our president. But too many are still in the thug's debt and must dissociate with more than words.

That's important because Chavez's crazed speeches this week, declaring President Bush "the devil," leave the scent of political blood in the water for plenty of Democrats.They know their own anti-Bush ravings could come back to haunt them on Nov. 7, given the enormous wave of public revulsion at Chavez's words in the U.S.

After all, potential GOP TV ads featuring Democrats' own attacks on Bush, back to back with Chavez's words, as the Felipe Calderon team did in Mexico's election, could ensure that Democrats pay a high political price for their past words.

Thus, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., made a politically savvy but still commendable defense of the U.S. in response to Chavez's attack: "Don't come to my country and attack my president."

But Democrats who've been cozying up to the Venezuelan dictator in the past few years are the ones who deserve the spotlight.They have, like Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., gone on junkets to Venezuela to admire Chavez's "revolution" in his dog and pony shows.

Worse, they've willingly gotten themselves into Chavez's political debt by accepting subsidized heating oil for their supposedly underserved residents. Rangel had nothing but praise for Chavez in February upon taking low-cost heating oil for his Harlem district.But none have been as involved with Chavez as Delahunt, who brokered Chavez's cheap-oil program. He called Chavez's attack "silly," but then told the Boston Globe it was all Bush's fault.

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., all helped with deals for 40 million gallons of cheap oil via Venezuelan-owned Citgo, which claims to have "helped 181,000" households. It now says it will double that.Disturbingly, the U.S. Energy Department's Sam Bodman dismissed this Chavez oil program as "corporate philanthropy."

It doesn't look like that when we see these same friends-of-Chavez congressmen vote against every single offshore drilling bill and proposed natural gas pipeline when those bills come up in Congress. Chavez desperately wants high oil prices, and to see pro-Chavez congressmen voting against bills that would cut energy prices not just for the poor but for everyone is, frankly, suspicious.

These actions contrast sharply with those of Chicago Democrats who told Chavez to beat it with his offer of $4 million in cheap transport fuel, and then started probing Chavez's bid to penetrate their city's electoral apparatus through voting machine contracts.

For Chavez, it's obvious that Congress' cheap-oil Democrats will accept political favors from literally anyone — even a foreign dictator — which certainly puffs up his sense of power. That emboldens him to step up aggressive actions against the U.S., like his recent alliance with nuclear wannabe Iran and his purchase of advanced jet fighters from Russia that menace us directly. The Venezuelan dictator vows to drive oil prices as high as $100 a barrel if the U.S. takes action against Iran. That cheap oil game isn't about helping the poor — just some very gullible Democrats.