Seiler, who worked with Sequoia and now is with Diebold, has sold election systems to more than a dozen counties since 1998. And she is on friendly terms with the elections chief in Los Angeles County.
"Deborah and I are friends," said registrar McCormack. "We went away one weekend to Carmel or Monterey, and I paid my own way, with our husbands."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday November 13, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 31 words Type of Material: Correction
Voting machines -- An article in Monday's Section A about voting machine companies hiring former government officials misspelled the surname of former Sacramento mayor and state Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg as Eisenberg.
"But I think you can have friends and keep it separate from business," said McCormack, adding that she usually deals with one of Seiler's superiors.
Conferences of elections officials, here and nationally, often double as trade shows for the vendors, with numerous opportunities for them to interact in social settings.
"It's fair to say there's selling that goes on," said San Mateo County Registrar Warren Slocum. "It's no different than lots of industries. The difficulty is that, with increased scrutiny of the election process, there is a new day.... We all have to be thinking about the appearance."
The Houston-based Election Center is a nonprofit whose members are state and local elections officials.
When the annual conference was held in August at a Bal Harbour, Fla., hotel, the welcome reception was co-sponsored by Diebold, an evening by the pool by Sequoia and the graduation luncheon and awards by ES&S.
Becky Vollmer, a spokeswoman for ES&S, said sponsorships are a "goodwill gesture" for clients and potential clients and show support for the continuing education of elections officials.
Hawkins, the former Sacramento registrar, helped coordinate conferences over the years.
"I can't imagine anyone being influenced in a decision to buy or not to buy as the result of a lunch in a group setting," he said. "If it was a dinner with your spouse at Morton's and tickets to Hawaii, it would be different."
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Times staff writer Allison Hoffman contributed to this report.
