Free Republic

Sequoia touch-screen is California's most widely used Days before the election, state officials have learned that California's most widely used electronic voting machines feature a button in back that can allow someone to vote multiple times. Several computer scientists said Wednesday that the vulnerability found in all touch-screen machines sold by Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems was not especially great because using the yellow button for vote fraud would require reaching far behind the voting machine twice and triggering two beeps. "If the machine beeps loudly and someone has their arms wrapped around the machine, the poll workers are going to...

If she weren't running for secretary of state, Debra Bowen might consider Santa Cruz native Bruce McPherson the best fit for the job. As state senators, both traveled to Iceland to study geothermal energy; when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed McPherson to fill the secretary of state post last year, Bowen was part of the unanimous vote that confirmed him. "I consider him a friend," said Bowen, D-Redondo Beach. "When the governor nominated Bruce, I told him that I thought he was the second best person for the job." This November, Bowen hopes voters will agree with her. Bowen and McPherson,...

Incumbent McPherson defends reliability of the machines as challenger Bowen says they need stricter monitoring. In their only face-to-face debate before the November election, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and his challenger, state Sen. Debra Bowen, on Wednesday sharply disagreed about the reliability and vulnerability of electronic-voting machines used by many California counties. Bowen, a Democrat from Marina del Rey, argued that electronic slot machines face greater scrutiny than machines that count votes in nearly two dozen of the state's 58 counties. If elected, she said, she would revisit the systems that have been approved by the state, and create...

SACRAMENTO—The race for secretary of state this fall could be the Republicans’ best hope of retaining a statewide office, and it has left the Democratic challenger struggling to find a weakness she can exploit in her moderate opponent. Incumbent Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has steered a centrist course since being appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in March 2005 after Democrat Kevin Shelley resigned amid allegations of financial impropriety. That has helped him win over many Democrats and left-leaning organizations. He has received the endorsement of groups such as the California Teachers Association, an influential player in statewide political campaigns....