Instant runoff update for San Francisco: federal agency unlikely to certify any voting systems before November

San Francisco may have to wait until next year to get to use the new IRV capable software according to the federal agency that handles that process.

This would affect any jurisdictions in the US who have adopted "instant runoff" but are awaiting implementation.


John Gideon of http://www.votersunite.org/ advises today that:

Matt Masterson, Testing and Certification Program AnalystU.S. Election Assistance Commission just sent me an email in which he said, "Brian Hancock has said in public, most recently at NASED, that it is unlikely a system would be certified in time for use in the November 2008 election."Any state or locale awaiting certification of a voting system so they can use it in November is out of luck, it appears.

I guess the Grand Jury's July 3rd recommendations were dead on when urging San Francisco's elections department to develop a backup plan.

Several other jurisdictions are awaiting federal certification of IRV capable software and or machines.