Today's Hearing on Electronic Voting Machines in California

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Debra Bowen: Doing the Job She Said She Would When Elected California Secretary of State

By Frank D. Russo

Debra Bowen made headlines across the nation, including the New York Times, in the past few days, just doing what she said she would do when elected Secretary of State: Make sure that every vote is counted accurately and that every voter who wants to vote is able to do so and knows that his or her vote matters.

On Friday she announced that she had just hours before received reports from computer experts on electronic voting systems and would hold hearings today, even though she was not required to do so by law. She candidly told reporters that she had not read these reports, but that the documents would soon be posted on the Secretary of State's website (It was, and it's all there if you want to read it.) If she is to decertify any of these machines, she must act by Friday, which is six months before the next state election, The February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Bowen, a lawyer by training, is going to go where the evidence takes her--calmly, deliberately, and with an eye towards what she can do to improving the process. Some of the headlines have screamed dramatically that every system was hackable, but Bowen cautioned reporters on Friday that there may be solutions to these and to not get carried away with the numbers of violations or superficial analyses. She has her eye on the ball.

Counting every vote accurately and restoring voters' confidence in the system are simple principles, but powerful ones. To some, they may seem like a cliché. But I've had the opportunity to watch Bowen as the Chair of the California Senate Elections Committee, a candidate for Secretary of State, and now as a statewide officeholder, and I've got to tell you: This is the real deal. She has been consistent in what she has said all along, and she is following through on exactly what got her elected to this position.

Before the election, Andy Katz wrote on these pages an article, "Debra Bowen for California Secretary of State: Honest Abe Lincoln Without the Stovepipe Hat?" He said at that time: