Daily Sentinel again omitted former GOP secretary of state's failure to certify voting machines

Summary: Reporting September 9 on the state's continuing efforts to recertify the security of its electronic voting machines, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction did not mention that a district judge had ruled in 2006 that former Republican Secretary of State Gigi Dennis' office failed to properly certify the equipment before last November's election. The Daily Sentinel made a similar omission in an August 30 article, as Colorado Media Matters noted.

In a September 9 article about the ongoing recertification of the security of the state's electronic voting machines, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction again omitted the fact that a district judge ordered the recertification after finding former Republican Secretary of State Gigi Dennis' office responsible for not adequately certifying the machines before the November 2006 election.

According to the Daily Sentinel, "Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman said he is confident four election-equipment vendors that have resisted helping the state recertify their electronic voting machines will comply with a November ultimatum." While the article stated that "Colorado was forced to recertify the company's electronic voting machines after a state judge ruled in September 2006 the machines were not 100 percent safe from tampering," it did not note the court's explicit implication of Dennis' office.

As Colorado Media Matters noted when the Daily Sentinel made a similar omission on August 30, The Denver Post reported that in his September 2006 ruling, Denver District Judge Lawrence Manzanares found that "Dennis' office never created minimum security standards for the [electronic voting] machines -- as required by state law," and further that under former Gov. Bill Owens' (R) administration, "the state did an 'abysmal' job of documenting testing during the certification process."

From the September 9 Daily Sentinel article "Coffman says vote-machine solution on way," by Mike Saccone:

Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman said he is confident four election-equipment vendors that have resisted helping the state recertify their electronic voting machines will comply with a November ultimatum.

Coffman issued a Nov. 16 deadline for four equipment vendors, Diebold, Hart InterCivic, ES&S and Sequoia, after they did not provide his office with sufficient information to recertify electronic voting machines in use throughout Colorado.

ES&S is Mesa County's vendor.

"I'm pleased with how the process is going," Coffman said Saturday during a break in the fall meeting of Western Slope interest group Club 20.

Colorado was forced to recertify the company's electronic voting machines after a state judge ruled in September 2006 the machines were not 100 percent safe from tampering.

Coffman said if Colorado had a statewide ballot measure on the 2007 ballot, the companies' obstinacy to cooperate in the recertification process would have been disastrous.

He said his November deadline should provide the state with sufficient time to recertify the machines for use in the 2008 election.

—J.S.W.