E-voting critic tapped to oversee state voting systems

A Berkeley lawyer who has fought electronic voting in Californiaand a half-dozen other states has been tapped by CaliforniaSecretary of State Debra Bowen as her deputy in charge of votingmachinery.

Lowell Finley, co-founder and co-director of the election-integrity group Voter Action, has pulled out of lawsuits againstelections officials in California, Florida, Ohio and other states inorder to accept a post of deputy secretary of state.

Bowen, who was sworn in Monday, still is figuring out themanagement structure for the office, but she expects Finley to havea lead role in her promised "top-to-bottom review" of voting systemsused in the state, said Chief Deputy Secretary Evan Goldberg.

"She thinks Mr. Finley is an excellent person to help her do thattop-to-bottom review," Goldberg said. "He will be the lead persondealing with voting-system technology issues."

Finley, 54, could not be reached Monday night, but the co-director of Voter Action cheered his new job in an open Internetletter to supporters.

"Lowell's appointment to one of the nation's most important statepositions, overseeing election standards and voting machinecertification for approximately one-fifth of the nation's voters, isa victory for Voter Action, election integrity advocates and votersacross the United States," wrote Holly Jacobson.

Finley is a longtime elections lawyer who co-founded theCalifornia Political Attorneys Association 15 years ago and handledseveral redistricting and minority voter access cases before he sawthe spread of touch-screen voting machines in his home county andelsewhere in California. Working with Bev Harris ofBlackBoxVoting.org, Finley sued Diebold Election Systems Inc.,claiming the firm made misrepresentations to Alameda County andCalifornia to sell its voting machines. Diebold settled the case for$2.6 million.

Finley and Jacobson met as part of a loose network of election-integrity groups during the 2004 elections and collected numerousvoter complaints about electronic voting machines. They decided toseek a recount in a small state where there had been problems andchose New Mexico. The state's elections officials denied therecount, and Finley filed a legal challenge. Data discovered in thecase suggested that Native American and Hispanic voters using theATM-like electronic voting machines were not casting votes in manyraces. This undervote rate, Finley and Jacobson found, was manytimes higher than among the same ethnic groups voting by paperballot.

Finley filed a second lawsuit seeking to bar the use ofelectronic voting equipment in New Mexico as unconstitutional.

"That really was the birth of Voter Action," said Jacobson, whoco-founded the group with Finley. "It wasn't about overturning theelection results, it was about protecting the future."

They teamed up with high-powered law firms and challengedelectronic voting in New Mexico, California, Florida, Ohio,Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Jacobson said Finley became a "beacon"to people concerned about security, accuracy and transparency invoting systems.

"Lowell is the kind of person who operates from a place ofcomplete integrity and will always do the right thing," Jacobsonsaid. "He is completely dedicated to showing that elections aresecure, accurate and reliable. He's dedicated his life to this, andthis position will really give him the opportunity to do that on amuch higher level."

Contact Ian Hoffman at ihoffman

@angnewspapers.com or (510) 208-6458.