California Secretary of State Debra Bowen Awarded 2008 JFK Profile in Courage Award

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo
Based on information from the Kennedy Library

Our Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who led the nation in challenging the reliability of electronic voting systems, has been named as one of three individuals who will receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Bowen will be presented with this award by JFK’s daughter Caroline Kennedy and his brother, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on May 12.

Jennifer Brunner, Secretary of State of Ohio will also receive this award and a special Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement will be presented to former Mississippi Governor William Winter for his leadership in championing racial equality and educational opportunity in Mississippi.

Announcement of the award was accompanied by the following statement about Bowen from the Kennedy Library:

“After a $450 million investment by California counties in electronic voting systems aimed at modernizing elections, newly elected Secretary of State Debra Bowen ordered an independent review of the new voting technologies to ensure they adequately protected the integrity of the vote. When the study revealed troubling flaws in the systems, Bowen strictly limited the use of direct-recording electronic voting machines, and imposed significant security and auditing requirements on systems to be used in California’s February 5 presidential primary election. Bowen’s decision was met with resistance by voting system vendors and many county elections officials.”

“As we prepare to cast our ballots for the next President of the United States, our confidence in the integrity and reliability of the voting process has never been more important,” said Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. “Secretaries of State Debra Bowen and Jennifer Brunner have each demonstrated exceptional leadership in working to ensure that voting systems provide a full and accurate count of the vote. Our democracy depends on voter trust. Debra Bowen and Jennifer Brunner’s efforts to earn that trust have made them true profiles in courage."