- Election officials in Johnson County are now demanding
answers from a voting machine company at the heart of a recent I-Team investigation.
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- I-Team 8 has been asking "Will Your Vote Count?"
Now with the primary just two months away, we've uncovered a new wrinkle
as a respected election worker is abruptly dismissed.
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- Doug Orange had his contract with Election Systems and
Software terminated last week. As the ES&S Project manager, Orange
helped the county set up new touch-screen voting systems. County clerk
Jill Jackson was very happy with his work.
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- So why was Orange fired? He says the company claimed
insubordination, but he says he was just doing the right thing. "I
was asked by Wil Wesley, as my immediate supervisor, to implement a procedure
in Johnson County that I personally felt was attacking the integrity of
the future election and the security of the future elections in Johnson
County. Not to mention that I felt those procedures were illegal,"
said Orange.
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- Bound by a non-disclosure statement, Orange won't elaborate
further. But county election officials already had concerns about unapproved
and illegal ES&S software inadvertently used in the last election.
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- "We are concerned that we have the election conducted
in a first class way. And we've had some changes with ES&S that have
brought some concern for the board," said J. Bryan Nichol, Johnson
County Election Board.
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- In a statement this afternoon, ES&S said it couldn't
discuss personnel issues but says it's "confident that the county
and election administrators will enjoy a seamless transition and continued
election support services to help ensure a successful election."
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- "I was replaced as project manager eight weeks before
a primary election, with a new clerk who's just been elected to office,
with a new voting system that is under fire," said Orange, who calls
the task impossible. He added, "The unfortunate result of this is
that I feel as though Johnson County and Johnson County's future elections
are at risk."
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- Nicol says despite the changeover, he expects Johnson
County's primary will run smoothly. I-Team 8 tried to contact the supervisor
who terminated Doug Orange to ask him about these issues. We were referred
to the same spokesperson who gave us the earlier statement. The spokesperson
replied via email, "Because your question relates to a confidential
personnel issue we are unable to discuss specifics." She also added:
"We carry out our mission with the highest degree of integrity and
professionalism. For anyone to assert otherwise is unfortunate."
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- Will Your Vote Count? Read I-Team 8's investigation into
problems with electronic voting machines. http://www.wishtv.com/Global/category.asp?C=49590&nav=0Ra7JXq2
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