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Editorials
Monday, July 3, 2000Vote-count contract
faces GOP challengeTHE 1998 state elections were marked by foul-ups with seven voting machines that led to a total recount, the first since the 1960 presidential election. The recount uncovered no further errors but the incident left its scars.The issue: The chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party has criticized the award of the state contract for voting machines.
The state elections office ensured that the controversy would continue by signing a contract to cover four more election cycles (primary and general elections) with the same voting machine vendor, Election Systems & Software (ES&S) of Omaha, Neb., that ran the 1998 elections.
On June 29, Dwayne Yoshina,
his election officers and
representatives of ES&S
addressed the Star-Bulletin
editorial board. This is
unedited audio of
the session:
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Dwayne Yoshina, the state's chief election officer, explained that three companies responded to the call for bids for equipment to operate the coming elections, but two of the three bidders were disqualified by the state procurement office for failure to meet bonding requirements. He said this left him upset and frustrated because he had no choice but to deal with the sole remaining company -- ES&S. He could have called for new bids but there wasn't enough time.
Yoshina said that in the negotiating with ES&S -- which he maintains was conducted in accordance with the procurement law -- the state agreed to add a fourth election cycle to the contract in return for a lower per-election price.
Now the companies that were disqualified from the bidding have filed protests claiming that the procurement process wasn't fair. The companies, Global Election Systems Inc. and Unilect Corp., complain that the contract as awarded doesn't match the original bid specifications, in particular because of the extension of the length of the contract.
Frank Kaplan, Global's Western regional manager, said the bid proposal was for election years 2000 and 2002 with a possibility of extension to 2004. He said his company based its bid on that information.
Linda Lingle, chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party, who was critical of the handling of the 1998 elections, says the state should terminate the ES&S contract after this year's elections and hold another bidding.
Lingle charges that the bidding process discouraged other voting machine companies from bidding, but Yoshina defends the procedure followed and the specifications used.
Lingle also criticizes concessions made by the state to ES&S during the negotiations, including a cap on the amount of money the company would pay for nonperformance.
There are also lingering doubts about the company's ability to deliver satisfactory service in view of the experience two years ago. But both the state and ES&S insist the problem will not occur again.
Yoshina maintains that he acted in accordance with the law and with the best interests of the state. However, if more problems are experienced with the voting machines in the fall elections it will certainly add to the clamor to cancel the contract and call for new bids.
Pacific island aid
IN 1986 two former districts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands became independent in a relationship called "free association" with the United States. The new nations, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia, signed agreements with Washington providing for millions of dollars in development aid.
Now Congress is learning that much of the money was squandered. An official of the General Accounting Office testified that Micronesia and the Marshalls wasted at least $1.6 billion through poor planning and management.
Susan Westin of the GAO said that instead of using the aid to seek economic self-sufficiency, the island republics spent it "to maintain an artificially high standard of living." She testified that warehouses and factories built with U.S. aid are empty, new equipment is rusting away and half-completed roads go nowhere.
Part of the blame was directed at the Interior Department for its failure to monitor the use of the money. Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, decried what he called "the neglect and indifference of the Interior Department."
Ferdinand Aranza, director of the department's Office of Insular Affairs, said the compacts of free association provided no system of goal-setting and accountability. The U.S. government took a hands-off approach out of deference to the new governments, he said. In addition, his office lacked the staff to adequately monitor the funds.
In all, it's a discouraging story of failure of a program that was launched with considerable hope as a successor to the former U.N. trusteeship. The United States tried with mixed results to encourage democratic government but had little success in stimulating economic growth.
Since independence the story seems to be much the same, perhaps worse. The islands seem to be floundering without prospect of real development although Washington provided considerable resources for that purpose.
The financial provisions of the compacts expire next year and the State Department has begun negotiations for renewal. It's a safe bet that Congress will be much more skeptical of future requests for funding -- as it should be.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
