Amador, Calaveras. Colusa, Contra Costa, Merced, Sacramento, Solano, Stanislaus, Tuolumne. For accessible system only: Los Angeles, Marin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Siskiyou
Dear (name
of the Election Official for your county),
I am a voter in
________ County. I am writing in support of Secretary of State Debra
Bowen's efforts to secure the integrity of our elections.
Recently
I learned that Secretary Bowen has denied certification of voting
equipment (the Unity 3.0.1.1/Automark) manufactured by ES&S, a
supplier of voting equipment used in our county.
As I
understand the situation, tests of ES&S equipment have revealed
serious security vulnerabilities. To protect against these
vulnerabilities, Secretary Bowen has asked ES&S to submit a set
of written procedures to be followed by elections officials and poll
workers. So far, the company has not adequately complied with her
request.
Last week it was announced that Secretary Bowen will
receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, a national
award presented annually to "public servants who have made
decisions of conscience without regard for personal or professional
consequences." The magnitude of this honor is captured in the
words of its 1992 recipient, Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker:
"For the scientist, the moment is the Nobel or the Lasker; for
the journalist, the Pulitzer; the actor, the Oscar. For those in
government, it is the Kennedy."
Debra Bowen deserves our
full support for her courageous leadership. I urge you to demand that
ES&S comply fully and immediately with Secretary Bowen's
conditions for certifying our county's voting equipment.