Sequoia Voting Systems Provides Information about Pollworker Activation Mechanism in Edge Voting Units.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- In response to inaccurate information being propagated about touchscreen voting equipment manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems just a few days before the midterm elections, we are compelled to issue this statement to ensure accurate and complete information is available to all about our company's voting equipment:

There has been a great deal of misinformation that has been
circulating about the button on the back of the AVC Edge from Sequoia
Voting Systems that allows Pollworker Activation of the voting unit
and we want to address this issue.

The Pollworker Activation capability is a well known and well
documented back-up activation feature of Sequoia's Edge voting unit
and has been in place since the introduction of the Edge in the late
1990's. This capability allows for Pollworker Activation of an Edge
voting unit by a pollworker in the unlikely case of a failure of a
Card Activator in the polling place. Card Activators are used by the
majority of Edge jurisdictions and their pollworkers to initialize
Smart Cards that voters use to bring up their ballots on the screen.
This function is, and always has been documented in Sequoia's training
manuals for the Edge and is highlighted in training classes that
Sequoia provides to its customers. Sequoia's Edge customers are well
aware of this function's existence and use it as appropriate according
to their procedures.

It is important to note that election jurisdictions have three choices
regarding the use of the Pollworker Activation feature when setting up
their election databases. Jurisdictions can choose: 1) to allow ONLY
Pollworker Activation of the Edge voting unit (in the case where
jurisdictions have decided not to use Card Activators and Smart Cards
at all), 2) to NEVER allow Pollworker Activation, which would disable
this back-up feature in all Edge voting units in the jurisdiction for
that election and 3) to allow PollWorker Activation as a back-up
procedure only as determined is needed by an individual polling
location because of a Card Activator issue. This flexibility has
always been present in Sequoia's election management system and gives
our customers options to activate or not activate this feature per
their determination and election procedures.

The Pollworker Activation button is located on the back of the machine
and is not easily accessible to voters without an individual moving to
the back of the machine and illegally and deliberately engaging the
equipment in a set of specific steps. Additionally, the Edge signals a
series of loud beeps when the button is pressed in this manner. This
is a deliberate and customer defined feature to prevent the Edge from
having a single point of failure (an inoperable Card Activator) at a
polling location and preventing voters from casting their ballots
electronically as is the case with some other voting systems.

Sequoia has, and will continue to review this and other product
features post-November 7th and work cooperatively with all of our
customers to determine what if any enhancements to the voting unit are
requested and required at that time for both maximum security and ease
of use for pollworkers and election officials while, assuring a
positive voter experience and voter confidence.

About Sequoia Voting Systems (www.sequoiavote.com)

Sequoia Voting Systems is an American company, based in Oakland, California with a 100-year history of providing accurate, reliable, state-of-the-art voting solutions dating back to the nation's first lever-based mechanical voting equipment in the 1890s. Sequoia provides election technology, services and support to state and local government including precinct-based optical scan ballot readers, high-speed central count optical scan ballot readers, ballot layout and printing services, and full-face and paginating electronic voting equipment with optional printers that produce voter verifiable paper records. The company has hundreds of customers throughout the country and its voting equipment will be used on November 7th, 2006 in 16 states plus the District of Columbia.

Sequoia has been providing electronic voting equipment for twenty-five years and leads the industry with our AVC Advantage full-face push button electronic voting system and the AVC Edge touchscreen system.