off-topic: VOTE

Be sure to vote next week.

From Computerworld, a state-by-state status on electronic voting.  Alabama report:

Registered voters
Approx. 2,418,000
Voting equipment vendor
ES&S
Technologies
Optical scan, ballot-marking device
Legal requirements
A voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) is not required by law, but machines with that capability are in use statewide (they are, after all, optically scanning a paper ballot). There is no requirement for manual audits of randomly selected precincts.
Voter registration database
Alabama signed a contract with Diebold in May 2005 but canceled in September of that year when it discovered that the company would only license the database software, not permit the state to own it. In addition, many counties refused to merge their data with the state system. Negotiations were reopened, and Justice Department officials took the state to court. Currently, Gov. Bob Riley, a Republican, is overseeing a committee (download PDF) that hopes to bring the database into HAVA compliance during 2007, having removed control of the electoral process from the Democratic official previously in charge.
Government links
- 2006 Election Information (Secretary of State)
- HAVA plan (download PDF)
In the news
- Registered voter list errors might impede some, Associated Press, Oct. 26, 2006
- Justice Department Sues Alabama Over Voting Rights, DOJ press release, May 1, 2006
- Flap over Alabama statehouse race, CBSNews / AP, Nov. 9, 2002