National Association of Secretaries of
State Winter Meeting
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Feb. 13, 2014 - NASS held a demo
in the lobby area where vendors could present products and services
related to election and business administration. The Presidential
Commission on Election Administration recently warned of an "impending
crisis in voting
technology as machines bought 10 years ago with post-2000 federal funds
wear out and require replacement." These and other firms will be
in the forefront as equipment is replaced.
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Bill Cody of GCR, Inc. highlights the
award-winning mobile voter information app his firm developed in
partnership
with the Lousiana Secretary of State.
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Jomal Gumbs of PCC Technology Group; the firm provides
solutions in election administration, ethics and transparency and
corporate governance. In January Connecticut Secretary of State
Jim Condos annouced PCC had been selected to overhaul his office's
website and IT systems.
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Joe Wilson, vice president of Casto & Harris, Inc.,
highlights his firm's low-tech solutions. Its ReadyVote™ brand products include a durable, easy-to-set-up
voting booth
(designed by Wilson) and 13 variations of carts which spare poll
workers, many of whom are senior citizens, from the need to do a lot of
lifting.
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Eugene Yu, president and CEO of Konnech, Inc.,
highlights his firm's ABVote™ voter
education app and PollChief® election management software.
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Kathy Rogers, senior vice
president of government relations for Election
Systems
& Software, the country's largest provider of voting
equipment and software (according to the firm's website, over
60-percent of voters in the United States cast their ballot on an
ES&S system). Among the products ES&S highlighted were
its ExpressVote® device, which has a touch screen and prints a
paper voting record.
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Karen Clakeley and Ron Clevenger
of Hart
Intercivic highlight the firm's Verity™ voting system,
described as "a modern, human-centered solution focused on usability,
flexibility, and transparency." Clevenger said companies have
tended to "frankenstein" their election systems by bolting on new bits
and improvements. To develop Verity™ Hart
started from the ground up. The machine is totally self contained
in its own case and weigh 27 pounds.
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Jordan Esten and Hillary Rose
show off Clear Ballot Group's
nifty product which scans ballots into a digital database,
allowing for an automated audit.
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Everyone Counts, Inc.
provides
an interesting counterpoint to firms such as ES&S and Hart
Intercivic, by emphasizing use of off-the-shelf hardware instead of
expensive purpose-built equipment. Voters do not need to
familiarize themselves with special equipment; laptops, printers and
other such equipment can be
returned to regular use after an election; and if a laptop or printer
breaks down it can easily and inexpensively be replaced. "What
we're doing is what you already know how to do," Shelley Furse
said. Everyone Counts eLect™ system has been used for overseas
military voting and many private elections, including online voting for
the 2013 Oscars®. Shelley Furse and Don DeFord recently
joined the firm as regional sales managers. Furse's
experience includes 13 years at Microsoft and eight years at
Apple; DeFord was HAVA manager for the State of Oregon.
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Lori Steele, founder, chairman
and CEO of Everyone Counts, Inc..
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