California’s new Secretary of State, liberal Democrat Debra Bowen, has appointed Lowell Finley the Assitant Secretary of State for Voting Systems and Technology. Finley has wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars by teaming up with conspiracy paranoid groups like Black Box (a.k.a. "Cynthia McKinney’s race loss was rigged" whackos) voting to sue those who have purchased touch screen voting machines which help county governments and the state comply with the federal Help America Vote Act.

Not only do these machines allow state and local governments to comply with HAVA but they allow voters who are disabled the opportunity to cast their votes privately and independently– something that was previously impossible.

This move by Bowen (pictured to the right) could signal that she plans to decertify electronic voting machines certified by her predecessor, Bruce McPherson. Not only is this unecessary it could cost the taxpayers millions of dollars if county governments are forced to change their voting systems. After 3 sucessful elections and no major problems in the State of California, this seems uncessary. California already has the strictest standards in the nation for certifying voting machines and plenty of Election Day safeguards in place.

 

Additionally, Bob Salladay over at Political Muscle pointed out that Finley is the lawyer who led the suit to force the Governor to pay $4.5 million out of his own pocket because he allegedly illegally loaned himself campaign funds.