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February 29, 2016

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Sam Mahood (916) 653-6575

MEDIA ADVISORY

Secretary of State Alex Padilla to Discuss Need to Fund New Voting Systems at Senate Elections Committee Hearing

SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla will discuss the need to modernize California’s aging voting systems at a Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments oversight hearing on Tuesday, March 1. County elections officials for Orange, Sacramento, and Los Angeles counties will also testify at the committee hearing chaired by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica). 

An excerpt from Secretary Padilla’s recent joint Op-Ed with Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley making the case for funding to modernize California voting systems: 

In September of 2015, New York University's Brennan Center for Justice also issued a report, "America's Voting Machines at Risk." It raised concerns including the failure of equipment to work as intended and the difficulty of finding replacement parts for machines that are no longer manufactured. 

The Brennan Center report points out that many voting systems rely on software that is out of date, making it impossible to find hardware that is compatible with the antiquated operating systems. 

New [elections] equipment is an undeniable priority. It goes without saying that elections are a government responsibility that must be funded. Their integrity is fundamental to our democratic form of government. 

Click here the full Op-Ed published in the San Jose Mercury 

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