Recent elections have been a mess here in Colorado, and today the Secretary of State brought the hammer down.

Voting Machines For Major Counties Decertified
– Machines Have Problems With Security, Accuracy, Secretary Of State Says

DENVER — Colorado’s top election official decertified electronic voting machines used in some of the state’s largest counties on Monday, including Denver, Arapahoe and Jefferson.

The devices are also used in Pueblo, Mesa and Elbert counties.

Secretary of State Mike Coffman cited security or accuracy problems in the decertified machines.

A number of electronic scanners used to count ballots were also decertified, including a type used by Boulder County.

The manufacturers have 30 days to appeal.

Coffman announced in March that he had adopted new rules for testing electronic voting machines after problems in the November election.

It will come as no surprise that one of the companies implicated is Diebold – err, excuse me, Premier Election Solutions. They recently rebranded, a process that apparently didn’t include addressing the Sec-o-State’s new standards for security and accuracy. No word on whether Coffman has standards for rebranding. The other companies decertified were Hart InterCivic, Sequoia Voting Systems and Election Systems and Software.

The companies must now file for recertification, and I’m optimistic that the process will result in a system that’s reliable and less chaotic than what we’ve come to expect out here. Hopefully officials in other states will follow suit.

For more details, see the report at BradBlog.