Sequoia to provide new equipment

Why Sequoia?

Thursday, May 26, 2005

1) Lowest Bidder. Under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), the Cook County Clerk’s office will receive federal dollars to replace its punch card equipment. Sequoia submitted the lowest bid among the companies responding to the bid requests.

2) Voter Verifiable Paper Trail. Sequoia is the only voting equipment company among the four finalists to have produced a touch-screen machine with a verifiable paper audit trail that has been federally certified for use. Illinois is one of a handful of states that requires touch-screen machines to have a paper trail.

3) Track Record. Sequoia is the only equipment manufacturer to deploy touch-screens equipped with a voter verifiable paper trail in a large-scale jurisdiction in a major election (State of Nevada – November 2004 presidential election).

4) Dual System Usage. Sequoia is the only vendor to deploy two concurrent voting systems – optical scanners and touch-screen machines – to comply with accessibility standards for disabled voters (Washington, D.C. – November 2004 presidential election). Illinois is required to meet these standards in 2006.

5) Low Fall-Off Rate. Sequoia optical scan and touch screen voting systems have demonstrated particularly low fall-off rates, or the number of unrecorded votes. Casting ballots on touch screen machines during the Nov. 2 presidential election, only 0.3 percent of voters in Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas) did not cast a vote for president. Using a dual system of optical scanners and one touch screen per precinct, only 1.1 percent of voters in Washington D.C. did not cast a ballot for president.

6) Ease of Use. Voters in jurisdictions that have used Sequoia touch-screen machines like them because the machines are intuitive and voter friendly, much like an ATM. The machines also enable voters to make changes to their selections before casting their votes.

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