Elections Security

Law officers in Shreveport, La., were called in to guard ballots cast in a close election for the 4th Congressional District seat because of reports that thousands of people had been illegally purged from voting rolls. Unofficial results showed Republican Jim McCrery narrowly defeated Democrat Foster Campbell Saturday for the seat vacated by Gov. Buddy Roemer.

In elections expected to significantly alter the country's political equation, Iraqis today began choosing new provincial councils to replace the current ones, blamed for fueling years of sectarian strife. Late Friday, vehicular curfews took effect in cities, Baghdad's airport was closed and borders were sealed, signs of security concerns that remain high despite a major drop in violence in recent months. Polling stations were ringed with razor wire and under 24-hour police guard.

The Legislature, responding to an incident last year in Orange County, has sent Gov. George Deukmejian a bill to ban the posting of security guards at polling places without permission from election officials. By a 35-0 vote, the Senate approved Assembly amendments to the bill, sending it to the governor's desk. The Assembly passed the proposal last month. The measure, SB58 by Sen.

Election workers Wednesday were mobilizing a massive effort to get ballots to remote areas of this nation, as the U.S. military announced the death of another soldier in the fight to make Afghanistan safer for its first postwar parliamentary election. With the vote just over a month away, guerrillas from the former Taliban regime continue to attack U.S. and allied forces.

Most computer security experts wince when they look at the electronic tabulation systems that now count more than half of the American vote. With a few exceptions, the "state of knowledge" about protecting these systems against tampering and fraud "appears to lie between very primitive and non-existent," Willis H. Ware, a senior scientist at the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, said in a paper prepared for an elections workshop in early 1987.

Los Angeles County elections are the envy of officials throughout the country. "Los Angeles is an extremely special case," said Michael Shamos, an attorney and computer expert who certifies electronic vote-tabulation systems for the state of Pennsylvania. "Nobody else spends that kind of money." The county elections budget for the 1988-89 fiscal year is $23.5 million.

A new law requires California counties to place their vote-counting computer programs in escrow so they can be checked by independent experts in case of disputed results. The law, which will take effect Jan. 1, is a partial response to increasing criticism that electronic vote tabulation sometimes is inaccurate and is vulnerable to tampering because of lax security. "It's an additional security measure," said Deborah Seiler, assistant to Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

When computerized vote-counting systems first appeared in California about 20 years ago, election officials across the land breathed deep sighs of relief. No more pieces of paper. No more waiting until the early morning hours for weary election workers to finish counting paper ballots, only to find later that the count was off by 2% or 3% or more. No more ballot-box stuffing. No more ballots scattered to the four winds as they were being transported from polling place to counting center.

Former President Jimmy Carter said Saturday that he had persuaded Nicaraguan authorities to take firmer steps to prevent pre-election violence, including the use of police against hecklers at anti-government rallies. Ending a four-day visit here, Carter announced that the Supreme Electoral Council will issue a directive to prevent the kind of rioting that disrupted a gathering of the National Opposition Union last Sunday and left one person dead and more than a dozen injured.

In elections expected to significantly alter the country's political equation, Iraqis today began choosing new provincial councils to replace the current ones, blamed for fueling years of sectarian strife. Late Friday, vehicular curfews took effect in cities, Baghdad's airport was closed and borders were sealed, signs of security concerns that remain high despite a major drop in violence in recent months. Polling stations were ringed with razor wire and under 24-hour police guard.

With early and absentee voting for the March 2 primary already underway, a Sacramento judge will hear a request today for an injunction against Secretary of State Kevin Shelley and registrars of 18 counties using electronic voting technology. The injunction is being sought by activist Jim March, a computer consultant based in Sacramento, and Bev Harris, who recently published a book about potential security gaps in electronic voting systems.

Bill Lerach, a frizzy-haired San Diego lawyer, is an inspiration, especially to the people who want to wreck havoc on his career by passing Proposition 201 on Tuesday's ballot. When they hold press conferences, 201's backers invariably refer to Lerach--with a sneer. Executives, especially ones in the Silicon Valley whom Lerach often sues, have called Proposition 201 the "Get Bill Lerach Initiative."

Former President Jimmy Carter said Saturday that he had persuaded Nicaraguan authorities to take firmer steps to prevent pre-election violence, including the use of police against hecklers at anti-government rallies. Ending a four-day visit here, Carter announced that the Supreme Electoral Council will issue a directive to prevent the kind of rioting that disrupted a gathering of the National Opposition Union last Sunday and left one person dead and more than a dozen injured.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana has emerged as the power behind the scenes in the redistricting plan submitted to a federal court Wednesday as a possible settlement of a lawsuit seeking to increase Latino political clout. Dana, sometimes working alone and sometimes with the county's political consultant, drafted the plan that provides political security for himself and three colleagues at the expense of his one-time mentor, Supervisor Pete Schabarum.

Cuba is expected to be elected to the U.N. Security Council for the first time since before Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Cuba will join Romania, South Yemen, Ivory Coast and Zaire for two-year terms beginning Jan. 1. 1990. The five permanent members of the Security Council, each with the power of veto, are the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, China and France. Cuba served two terms on the Security Council in the early days of the United Nations--in 1949-50 and in 1956-57.

The Legislature, responding to an incident last year in Orange County, has sent Gov. George Deukmejian a bill to ban the posting of security guards at polling places without permission from election officials. By a 35-0 vote, the Senate approved Assembly amendments to the bill, sending it to the governor's desk. The Assembly passed the proposal last month. The measure, SB58 by Sen.

Like most politicians facing reelection challenges, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) plans to spend the Saturday before next Tuesday's election campaigning. But Ferguson, who is expecting an easy victory for a second term in the state's most solidly Republican legislative district, will be away from his home territory. The freshman assemblyman is taking a busload of volunteers to help Pacific Palisades businesswoman Gloria J.

For the first time since their defeat in World War II, the three former Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan were elected Thursday to serve together on the U.N. Security Council. Also elected by the General Assembly were Zambia and Argentina. The three former Axis powers will sit, as of Jan. 1, at the circular council chamber with the victorious Allies--the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and China, which are permanent council members.

A new law requires California counties to place their vote-counting computer programs in escrow so they can be checked by independent experts in case of disputed results. The law, which will take effect Jan. 1, is a partial response to increasing criticism that electronic vote tabulation sometimes is inaccurate and is vulnerable to tampering because of lax security. "It's an additional security measure," said Deborah Seiler, assistant to Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

Most computer security experts wince when they look at the electronic tabulation systems that now count more than half of the American vote. With a few exceptions, the "state of knowledge" about protecting these systems against tampering and fraud "appears to lie between very primitive and non-existent," Willis H. Ware, a senior scientist at the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, said in a paper prepared for an elections workshop in early 1987.