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Ion Sancho (politician)
Encyclopedia
Ion Voltaire Sancho is an elected public official serving Leon County
, Florida
, USA as Supervisor of Elections. His family first moved to Louisiana
and then to Columbus, Ohio
. As the eldest child, he cared for his younger siblings. He moved to Florida after high school. Sancho resides in northeastern Leon County 2 miles west of Lake Miccosukee
.
in 1973. He then received his B.A.
in Social Science from Stetson University
in 1978. Sancho completed his education with a J.D.
from Florida State University College of Law
in 1987.
In 1984 Sancho, a Democrat
, was the Leon County leader for Presidential candidate Gary Hart
. Sancho is a State Certified Supervisor of Elections and nationally certified by the Elections Center as a Certified Elections/Registration Administrator (CERA). He's a former staff member of the Florida House of Representatives
, Corrections, Probation & Parole Committee. He is a member of the Center for Policy Alternatives, Voter Participation Advisory Board and member of The Elections Center.
(Most voters (99%) in Leon County use the opti-scan equipment, but federal law
requires one electronic machine
per precinct for visually impaired voters).
, founder of Black Box Voting
, Kathleen Wynne
, Black Box Voting Associate Director, Harri Hursti
, computer programmer and security expert, Dr. Hugh Thompson
, application security expert and Ph.D. in math, Susan Bernecker
, former Republican candidate for New Orleans city council and Susan Pynchon, Director of Florida Fair Elections Coalition to Tallahassee. There, they performed what is now known as the Hursti Hack
which became the center piece of an HBO documentary titled Hacking Democracy
.
and Sequoia Voting Systems
, the only 3 companies certified to do business in Florida would not sell Sancho voting machines. Automark was contacted by Sancho but the Secretary of State would not certify their voting equipment. ES&S said, "did not believe it could have a smooth working relationship with Sancho".
In Florida, Volusia County
joined Leon County in dumping Diebold. Elections officials in the states of Maryland
, North Carolina
, Texas
, and California
have called into question the security and accuracy of new voting machines.
accused Sancho of "undermining voter confidence" and the Federal Government and demanded the return of a $564,000 in grant money given to Sancho through the state to purchase voting machines that would comply with ADA standards as mandated in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), a United States federal law passed on October 29, 2002.
At Leon County Commission meetings on February 14 and February 28, 2006 the only two Republicans
in the local governments of either the city of Tallahassee
or Leon County government, Tony Grippa and Ed Depuy of Leon County's seven-member county commission blasted Sancho for failing to provide Leon County with accessible voting machines in attacks that Sancho believes were politically motivated.
At a Leon County Commission meeting on February 28, 2006, county staff revealed that Chuck Owen, Division Counsel for Diebold Election Systems, met with county staff behind closed doors on February 27. According to staff, Owen stated that Diebold would sell its touch-screen voting machines to the county if, and only if, the county removed Supervisor Sancho from office. That same day, Commissioner DePuy offered a motion, seconded by Commissioner Grippa to request the State Attorney to convene a grand jury
to investigate why Leon County is not in compliance with the voting regulations.
Tony Grippa left the Leon County Commission in April 2006. Ed DePuy was defeated in 2008 by Democrat Akin Akinyemi.
. Attorney Lida Rodriguez Taseff with Duane Morris
in Miami filed the suit. Diebold refused to return phone calls to Sancho and staff, refused to honor its existing contract with Leon County for the maintenance and upgrades of its voting system. Further, Diebold refused to sell Leon County touch-screen voting machines to meet state and federal
requirements for disabled accessibility.
and appears in the 2006 HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy."
Leon County, Florida
Leon County is a county located in the state of Florida, named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. At the 2010 Census, the population was 275,487. The county seat of Leon County is Tallahassee which also serves as the state capital. The county seat is home to two of Florida's major...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, USA as Supervisor of Elections. His family first moved to Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and then to Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. As the eldest child, he cared for his younger siblings. He moved to Florida after high school. Sancho resides in northeastern Leon County 2 miles west of Lake Miccosukee
Lake Miccosukee
Lake Miccosukee is a large swampy prairie lake in northern Jefferson County, Florida, USA, located east of the settlement of Miccosukee. A small portion of the lake, its northwest corner, is located in Leon County.-Characteristics:...
.
Background
Sancho received his A.A. degree from Valencia Community CollegeValencia Community College
Valencia College, formerly known as Valencia Community College, is a public state college in Orlando, Florida, United States. Valencia is the third-largest member institution of the Florida College System....
in 1973. He then received his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Social Science from Stetson University
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...
in 1978. Sancho completed his education with a J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from Florida State University College of Law
Florida State University College of Law
Florida State University College of Law is the law school of Florida State University in Tallahassee. The law school's highly accomplished and accessible law faculty delivers a program that has an interdisciplinary orientation designed to produce well-rounded and effective lawyers.The law school...
in 1987.
In 1984 Sancho, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, was the Leon County leader for Presidential candidate Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
. Sancho is a State Certified Supervisor of Elections and nationally certified by the Elections Center as a Certified Elections/Registration Administrator (CERA). He's a former staff member of the Florida House of Representatives
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
, Corrections, Probation & Parole Committee. He is a member of the Center for Policy Alternatives, Voter Participation Advisory Board and member of The Elections Center.
Supervisor of Elections
After a bid as county commissioner in 1986 Sancho took courses in election machine management and became certified in their use. In November 1988, Sancho was elected to his first term as the Supervisor of Elections for Leon County, Florida. He ran and was re-elected in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004, serving his fifth term as of January 2, 2005. He was unopposed in each election since 1992.National recognition
In the 2000 presidential recount, Sancho (No Party Affiliation) was chosen to lead the Florida hand count of ballots in dispute in Miami-Dade County. The U.S. Supreme Court stopped the hand count in a 5-4 ruling just as it got underway.(Most voters (99%) in Leon County use the opti-scan equipment, but federal law
Federal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...
requires one electronic machine
Electronic voting
Electronic voting is a term encompassing several different types of voting, embracing both electronic means of casting a vote and electronic means of counting votes....
per precinct for visually impaired voters).
Hacking a Diebold machine
In 2005, Sancho invited Bev HarrisBev Harris
Bev Harris is an American writer, activist, and founder of Black Box Voting Inc., a national nonpartisan, nonprofit elections watchdog group. She helped popularize the term Black Box Voting, while authoring a book of that title....
, founder of Black Box Voting
Black Box Voting
Black box voting signifies voting on voting machines which do not disclose how they operate such as with closed source or proprietary operations. The term, as described by Dr. Arnold Urken of Stephens Institute of Technology, comes from the technical jargon use of the term black box, a device or...
, Kathleen Wynne
Kathleen Wynne
Kathleen O. Wynne is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Don Valley West for the Liberal Party.-Background:...
, Black Box Voting Associate Director, Harri Hursti
Harri Hursti
Harri Harras Hursti is a Finnish computer programmer and former Chairman of the Board and co-founder of ROMmon where he supervised in the development of the world's smallest 2 gigabit traffic analysis product that was later acquired by F-Secure Corporation.Hursti is well known for participating in...
, computer programmer and security expert, Dr. Hugh Thompson
Herbert Hugh Thompson
Dr. Herbert Hugh Thompson is an application security consultant.Thompson received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Florida Institute of Technology. and holds a CISSP certificate...
, application security expert and Ph.D. in math, Susan Bernecker
Susan Bernecker
Susan S. Bernecker is a former Republican candidate for the Jefferson Parish City Council in suburban New Orleans. She was defeated 33% to 58% by Nick Giambelluca, nephew of the Jefferson Parish election supervisor, Tony Giambelluca....
, former Republican candidate for New Orleans city council and Susan Pynchon, Director of Florida Fair Elections Coalition to Tallahassee. There, they performed what is now known as the Hursti Hack
Hursti Hack
The Hursti Hack was a successful attempt to alter the votes recorded on a Diebold optical scan voting machine. The hack is named after Harri Hursti.- Participants :The participants were:*Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections, Leon County, Florida....
which became the center piece of an HBO documentary titled Hacking Democracy
Hacking Democracy
Hacking Democracy is a 2006 documentary film by producer Robert Carrillo Cohen and producer / directors Russell Michaels and Simon Ardizzone, shown on HBO...
.
Results of Sancho's actions
As a result, Diebold, Election Systems & SoftwareElection Systems & Software
Election Systems & Software is an American company that provides voting services.ES&S is a subsidiary of McCarthy Group, LLC, which is jointly held by the holding firm and the Omaha World-Herald Company, the publisher of Nebraska's largest newspaper. As of 2007 it was the largest manufacturer of...
and Sequoia Voting Systems
Sequoia Voting Systems
Sequoia Voting Systems was a California-based company that is one of the largest providers of electronic voting systems in the U.S., having offices in Oakland, Denver and New York City. Some of its major competitors were Premier Election Solutions and Election Systems & Software.It was acquired by...
, the only 3 companies certified to do business in Florida would not sell Sancho voting machines. Automark was contacted by Sancho but the Secretary of State would not certify their voting equipment. ES&S said, "did not believe it could have a smooth working relationship with Sancho".
In Florida, Volusia County
Volusia County, Florida
Volusia County is a county located in the state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 official county's population was 494,593 . Its county seat is DeLand, and its most populous city is currently Deltona....
joined Leon County in dumping Diebold. Elections officials in the states of Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
have called into question the security and accuracy of new voting machines.
Opposition
After the test election, Secretary of State Sue Cobb (R)Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
accused Sancho of "undermining voter confidence" and the Federal Government and demanded the return of a $564,000 in grant money given to Sancho through the state to purchase voting machines that would comply with ADA standards as mandated in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), a United States federal law passed on October 29, 2002.
At Leon County Commission meetings on February 14 and February 28, 2006 the only two Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in the local governments of either the city of Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
or Leon County government, Tony Grippa and Ed Depuy of Leon County's seven-member county commission blasted Sancho for failing to provide Leon County with accessible voting machines in attacks that Sancho believes were politically motivated.
At a Leon County Commission meeting on February 28, 2006, county staff revealed that Chuck Owen, Division Counsel for Diebold Election Systems, met with county staff behind closed doors on February 27. According to staff, Owen stated that Diebold would sell its touch-screen voting machines to the county if, and only if, the county removed Supervisor Sancho from office. That same day, Commissioner DePuy offered a motion, seconded by Commissioner Grippa to request the State Attorney to convene a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
to investigate why Leon County is not in compliance with the voting regulations.
Tony Grippa left the Leon County Commission in April 2006. Ed DePuy was defeated in 2008 by Democrat Akin Akinyemi.
Legal action
On March 8, 2006 Sancho initiated legal proceedings against Diebold Election Systems for breach of contractBreach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party's performance....
. Attorney Lida Rodriguez Taseff with Duane Morris
Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP is a law firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1904 as Duane, Morris, Heckscher & Roberts, the firm has 24 offices in the United States, London, Singapore and Vietnam. In addition to legal services, Duane Morris has independent affiliates employing...
in Miami filed the suit. Diebold refused to return phone calls to Sancho and staff, refused to honor its existing contract with Leon County for the maintenance and upgrades of its voting system. Further, Diebold refused to sell Leon County touch-screen voting machines to meet state and federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
requirements for disabled accessibility.
In the media
Sancho has been on National Public Radio and is familiar to readers of the New York Times, the Washington Post, St. Petersburg TimesSt. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
and appears in the 2006 HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy."
See also
- Voting systemVoting systemA voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum....
- ElectionElectionAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s - Black Box VotingBlack Box VotingBlack box voting signifies voting on voting machines which do not disclose how they operate such as with closed source or proprietary operations. The term, as described by Dr. Arnold Urken of Stephens Institute of Technology, comes from the technical jargon use of the term black box, a device or...
- Leon County political representationLeon County, FloridaLeon County is a county located in the state of Florida, named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. At the 2010 Census, the population was 275,487. The county seat of Leon County is Tallahassee which also serves as the state capital. The county seat is home to two of Florida's major...