County tries to block depositions over election databases
by Garry Duffy on Mar. 18, 2008, under Elections, Local, SpecialPima County attorneys want a Superior Court judge to bar additional testimony in the lawsuit by the Pima County Democratic Party seeking access to all county electronic vote records back to the late 1990s.
Attorneys for the county will ask Judge Michael Miller on Tuesday morning to prohibit Democrats’ attorney Bill Risner from deposing additional witnesses to buttress local Democrats’ contentions that the county is overstating concerns that release of the electronic databases from past elections would pose a risk to the security of future elections.
Democrats have maintained in their year-old lawsuit against the Pima County Board of Supervisors that much more is potentially at stake in the lawsuit than local political parties’ access to local electronic elections records.
They point to reports of security flaws and potential hacking involving the same Diebold-GEMS elections system used in the county that also is used in numerous jurisdictions nationwide.
Miller ruled in December 2007 that the county must turn over some of the databases sought by the Democrats, but not all.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors in January expanded on Miller’s order to release databases from the 2006 primary and general elections to also include the electronic records of the May 16 Regional Transportation Authority election held that year.
Risner has since asked the judge to amend that ruling and compel the county to release all the electronic election databases in its possession or to allow a new trial over the issue.
The judge is to rule on Risner’s request for an amended decision or new trial at an April 21 court session.
Risner said he wants to depose the new witnesses before that hearing.
In his ruling in December 2007, Miller cited security concerns raised by county attorneys as part of his reason for not releasing all the county’s electronic elections databases.
The lawsuit seeking those databases was filed by the Pima County Democratic Party to gain access to county elections records to check for signs of tampering with the county’s Diebold-GEMS vote system, or through software used to tabulate ballots cast in those elections.
Democrats have said they want access to the electronic elections databases as part of their role as official political party elections observers.
County attorneys have said the trial is over – at least for now – and are asking the judge to rule against Risner’s efforts to depose additional witnesses.
“This court’s previous order did not authorize plaintiff to conduct any post-trial discovery,” according to Daniel Jurkowitz, deputy county civil attorney.
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IF YOU GO
• Where: Pima County Superior Courts Building, Courtroom 672, 110 W. Congress St.
• When: 11 a.m. Tuesday
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ON THE WEB
For more information on possible security issues with computerized vote systems that leave no paper trail:
