SACRAMENTO -- Following a one-hour debate before the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board where he continued to defend his failed voter registration system that didn't let eligible Californians register to vote and his certification of Diebold voting machines that can be opened with a mini-bar key, Republican Secretary of State candidate Bruce McPherson has decided to ignore California's voters by skipping out on radio debates with his Democratic opponent, state Senator Debra Bowen.

"His non-stop defense of Diebold's electronic voting machines and a voter registration system that was found to be in violation of federal law haven't played well with California's voters, so I can understand why his campaign team wants to lock him in the basement with the crazy aunt Ross Perot used to talk about," said Bowen, who won a contested primary for the Democratic Party nomination by a 61-39% vote in June.  "If the voting machines the Secretary has certified for use in this state were as secure and difficult to break into as the protective cocoon his campaign staff has built around him, California's voters would be a lot better off than they are now."

The San Francisco Chronicle debate was held on October 25 and can be seen at:

http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_291163808.html

"The losers, of course, are the voters who miss out on the chance to hear from both of us about how we're going to guarantee that all eligible Californians have the right to register to vote, to cast a ballot, and to have that vote counted accurately," continued Bowen.  "I'm looking forward to appearing on the shows, telling people what I'm all about, and answering any question that anyone wants to toss my way."

Bowen can be heard solo, without a debate opponent, on KOGO Radio in San Diego on Wednesday, October 25, at 4:00 p.m.  People can listen to by going to http://www.kogo.com/main.html and this interview should be archived on the site in the event people can't listen live.  She'll also be on KPCC Radio in Los Angeles on Wednesday, November 1, at 10:00 a.m. -- again without McPherson, who could not find time for a public discussion of his decisions to the pull the rug out from under California's voters.  People can listen to a webcast of Senator Bowen on the 30th by going to http://www.scpr.org/ and this, too, should be archived for people who can't listen to it live.

Instead of answering questions about his failed policies that have prevented thousands of eligible voters from being able to cast a ballot, McPherson has emerged from his bunker on occasion to tout what he refers to as his "perfect" voting systems.

"That's the fundamental difference between the two of us -- I think it's a problem when people can't register to vote, can't cast a ballot, and have no assurance that their vote will be counted accurately, yet that appears to be Secretary McPherson's 'perfect' election day scenario," said Bowen.

During an interview aired on KXTV Channel 10 News in Sacramento earlier this month, McPherson said about the electronic voting systems he's certified for use in California:

"They have performed perfectly under two statewide elections that I've overseen."

He followed that comment up by saying about electronic voting machine problems in other states:

"They haven't happened in California and the reason they haven't is because Bruce McPherson is Secretary of State and has established the proper standards so those won't happen."

"Perfect performance?  What about the 26,000-plus voters in L.A. County who couldn't register to vote in the June primary thanks to the Secretary of State's 'model agreement' with the Bush Administration?  What about the hundreds of registered voters in Kern & San Joaquin counties who were turned away at the polls during the June primary thanks to voting machines that wouldn't work, machines that this Secretary has embraced as 'perfect?,'" continued Bowen.  "It's been less than five months since the Diebold machines he certified for use in Kern County didn't work during the June primary, forcing polls to open more than three hours late, and preventing as many as 500 people from casting ballots.  Voters in San Joaquin County faced similar problems, with voting machine glitches preventing a dozen polling places from opening until after 10:00 a.m. on Election Day, preventing who knows how many voters from casting their ballots."

The full story can be seen here:

http://www.news10.net/video/player2.aspx?aid=31781&bw

"Mr. McPherson continues to spout the Diebold company line, but the elections systems he's certified for use in California can't walk the walk," said Bowen.  "He called his agreement with the Bush Administration to set up a statewide voter registration database a 'model for the nation' even though it prevented over 26,000 eligible Californians from registering to vote in the June primary election.  He certified Diebold voting machines for use in the state even though they don't comply with state law and study after study has show the machines don't meet the most basic security standards.  When polls didn't open in Kern County for three hours thanks to problems with the Diebold machines and as many as 500 people were prevented from voting during the June primary, his response was to take his guidelines that caused the problem in June and order them to be used again in November."

"California voters deserve a Secretary of State who is focused on making it easier for eligible voters to register and cast a ballot, not more difficult," continued Bowen.  "What they have now is a Secretary of State who pats himself on the back for creating a system that prevented more than 26,000 eligible Californians from registering to vote thanks to regulations he adopted in violation of federal law.  It took the Secretary nine months to dump his voter registration agreement with the Bush Administration that prevented eligible Californians from registering to vote and he didn't do it until he was hammered by me, the California League of Women Voters, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and by a federal court in Washington that found a nearly identical system there violated the federal Help America Vote Act and the Constitution."

The report from Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy on how easy it is to install malicious code onto a Diebold voting machine that could alter votes can be found at:

http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/      

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