Reply #29: FL Opinion: Elections flak - County has responsibility, too [View All]

Opinion: Elections flak
County has responsibility, too

Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho is a passionate voter advocate who is required by law to use equipment that he says is imperfect and may cause problems at the worst possible time. Yet he is nevertheless facing major obstacles acquiring that equipment, which left to his own judgment, he wouldn't buy.

snip

The real reasons why three state-certified companies that provide touch-screen voting machines won't do business with Mr. Sancho aren't altogether known at this point. Around town, the political and pragmatic implications of this Catch-22 are the subject of considerable speculation.

The elections chief's confidence last week turned to pessimism this week when officials with Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. stopped returning his telephone calls in the middle of negotiating a business deal. On Wednesday Mr. Sancho said he'd been informed that Sequoia also won't do business with him, citing its inability to provide the county technical support it would need.

snip

The question posed by some, however, is whether his battles are at too high of a cost, both financially and politically, for Leon County, which funds the supervisor's operations.

snip

Calls for a grand jury investigation late last month were premature and had the smell, if not the intent, of political theater. But however sympathetic one may be to Mr. Sancho, the County Commission's involvement isn't simply piling on.

snip

Will Mr. Sancho retain control of the process that citizens have elected him to supervise? If not, who will - and how reliable will that system be?

snip

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/OPINION01/603090309/1006/OPINION