Election official hammered for telling the truth

IN MY OPINION

Election official hammered for telling the truth

BY FRED GRIMM
fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com

Ion Sancho may be a hero in California, where grateful
election officials have verified the ''serious
security vulnerabilities'' in Diebold voting machines
that the Leon County election supervisor uncovered
last year.

Sancho is regarded a little differently in Florida.

Florida's secretary of state's office disparaged
Sancho's finding, demonstrating considerably more
interest in propping up vendors than protecting
elections.

California, alarmed by Sancho's report, dispatched its
independent, expert-laden Voting Systems Technology
Assessment Advisory Board to conduct its own
investigation.

Florida, meanwhile, threatened to sue Sancho.

VOTING MACHINE VENDORS

When two of the only three voting machine vendors
certified to do business in Florida (other potential
competitors are shut out) refused to sell new machines
to the troublemaking maverick from Leon County, the
state snatched $564,421 in grant money away from Leon
County for failing to meet a deadline for -- you
guessed it -- obtaining new machines.

He may be a hero in California, but messing with
monied interests makes him a pariah in Florida.

California's voting systems assessment board issued a
report last month that cited -- in the very first
paragraph -- Leon County's security tests. Sancho had
dispatched renowned computer expert Harri Hursti of
Finland to attempt to hack Leon County's Diebold
voting system. He did. Hursti demonstrated that
someone inside the supervisor's office could both
alter the outcome of an election and erase any trace
of his meddling.

`CONCERNS WERE VALID'

California's follow-up investigation ''absolutely
vindicated Sancho's concerns,'' said David Wagner, a
University of California computer scientist and a
member of the voting machine assessment board. ``Our
report found all of Ion Sancho's concerns were valid
and, in fact, worse than anyone realized.''

Last month, California quickly issued a series of
fixes for the holes in the system. On Friday
afternoon, the Florida secretary of state's office
sent out the same California security directives to
county election supervisors. Of course, there was no
mention that the California findings had been
available all along right there in Ion Sancho's
Tallahassee office.

''This is incredible how he has been treated,'' Wagner
said Monday. ``He's the leader everyone else in the
nation has been watching. Because of his
investigation, we've been able to strengthen security
and protect the voters of California and Florida.''

Wagner noted, instead of getting credit, Sancho has
been savaged. One vendor canceled his orders at the
last minute, one refused to sell him machines, the
third won't return his phone calls.

Salesmen are suddenly too busy to sell him machines.
The state, rather than react to possible collusion,
promptly canceled his grant and threatened to sue him
for failing to fulfill his official duties. A couple
of Leon County commissioners have joined the
pummeling.

`ROUGH FEW WEEKS'

''It's been a rough few weeks,'' Sancho said Monday,
nearly in tears.

Wagner suggested that Sancho's situation ''exposed a
weakness that no one has realized up to now.'' Florida
apparently doesn't mind if its only licensed vendors
refuse to sell their products to certain supervisors.

''Can a vendor punish someone who exposes defects in
their product?'' Wagner asked.

``If they can drive out Ion Sancho, this is going to
have a chilling effect on election supervisors across
the country.''

He e-mailed Sancho: ``I just wanted to drop you a note
to let you know that some of us are grateful for your
dedication to election security, even if the state of
Florida can't bring themselves to thank you.

''In my mind,'' Wagner added, ``You are a real hero.''

In Florida, real heroes just catch hell.