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NM outsources election night webhosting

by intranets

Wed May 02, 2007 at 04:45:40 AM EST

It seems just about every state I check into has outsourced their live Election Night results website. I can see the argument for the increased traffic and needing a webhosting company that can handle the load, but I seriously question the choices made by state IT groups in choosing these private companies. Maybe it is the nature of government contracts to choose groups tied to election services or other government services, but this is the reporting of elections. It goes to the heart of our very Democracy.

It was reported that Ohio's Election Night webpage (election.sos.state.oh.us) was outsourced by Blackwell to partisan GOP groups.

A similar questionable arrangement may have taken place with the Florida Election Night webpage (election.dos.state.fl.us).

Now, it appears the New Mexico Secretary of State may have outsourced the election night reporting to a group with questionable connections. Many will argue that typically each county maintains the actual votes totals and ballots, and the SOS results are often audited and corrected when the certified Official results are posted, but in the atmosphere of the feeding frenzy that takes place during those years divisible by "4" is this the best we can do? In 2000, one man (Bush's cousin) at FoxNews may have swung the entire national reporting of the election winner.

Is real time results so important that we risk giving the keys to the kingdom over to who knows what groups? Do you know where you are actually getting your election results? In Ohio the results webpage was provided by George W. Bush's webhosting provider, on software developed by a Blackwell contract to the "Bell Labs" of the GOP (Did I mention Blackwell was also one of the webhosting clients?).

commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!

In 2004, the NM Election Night webpage was hosted on a Auburn SeeWolf LLC server at 65.160.159.96 (which is now gone)

Archive.org cache of 65.160.159.96

State of New Mexico
Election Results Reporting Application
NOTICE: This web site displays unofficial election results. Official results will not be available until after the election is audited.
Voting results are updated every fifteen (15) minutes.

65.160.159.0 - 65.160.159.255

OrgName: AUBURN SEEWOLF LLC
Address: PO BOX 1915
City: TIJERAS
StateProv: NM
PostalCode: 87509
NetRange: 65.160.159.0 - 65.160.159.255

In 2006, it appears the NM Election Night webpage was at http://72.32.91.185 (which is now gone and not in archive.org) This IP address is physically in the Rackspace NOC in Dallas.

http://www.google.com/search?q=72.32.91.185&num=100&filter=0

State of New Mexico
State of New Mexico Election Results Reporting Application.
NOTICE: This web site displays Official Election Results. Official election results were signed ...
72.32.91.185/

72.32.91.184 - 72.32.91.191

CustName: Individual
Address: 6 Siempre Verde Dr NE
City: Albuquerque
StateProv: NM
PostalCode: 87123
RegDate: 2006-05-10
NetRange: 72.32.91.184 - 72.32.91.191

Auburn SeeWolf - Albuquerque, NM (Web Site Development)
6 Siempre Verde NE, Albuquerque 87123

http://www.generalservices.state.nm.us/spd/35152.html

Auburn SeeWolf, LLC
Price Agreement No.: 35-000-00-00152
STATE OF NEW MEXICO PRICE AGREEMENT FOR
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

http://www.seewolf.com/Company.aspx

Auburn SeeWolf began operations in 1994 in Los Gatos, CA and relocated to Albuquerque, NM in 1998. We are a woman owned business incorporated in the State of New Mexico as a Limited Liability Company.

http://www.seewolf.com/Industries.aspx

Auburn SeeWolf supports a diverse set of industries. Our staff has worked on projects supporting the HIPAA compliance effort for the State of New Mexico, developing and deploying the voter collection applications for the State of New Mexico, designing web based e-commerce and forms applications.
A representative set of industries include:
* Aviation
* Government (Federal and State)
* Department of Defense
* Department of Energy
* ...

SeeWolf CEO Resume (pdf)

Sandra Ryan
Experience 1994-Present Auburn SeeWolf, LLC Tijeras, NM
President and Chief Executive Officer
1998-1999 SAIC Albuquerque, NM
1991-1998 TRW, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA
1988-1991 Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, VA

SeeWolf CIO Resume (pdf)

Jonathon R. Ryan
1996-present Auburn SeeWolf, LLC Tijeras, NM
Chief Information Officer
1995-1996 Condor Systems, Inc. San Jose, CA
1975-1995 Watkins-Johnson Co. Palo Alto, CA
1965-1975 U. S. Navy Various Locations