On her watch as the chief elections officer for the largest state in the nation, Debra’s goals are to ensure that voting systems are secure, accurate and accessible, and that voters have confidence in the final election results because every ballot is counted exactly as it was cast.

• After taking office in 2007, Debra ordered a groundbreaking top-to-bottom review of California’s voting systems that has since been emulated by other states.  When this review by dozens of independent experts revealed significant flaws in every voting system examined, Debra shored up election security and post-election audits in unprecedented ways.  She specified detailed conditions for use of each type of voting system, including strict limitations on direct recording electronic (DRE) machines.

• For her trailblazing leadership in strengthening democracy, Debra was recognized nationally with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, one of the highest global honors for public servants who choose principles over partisanship.

• Debra is fighting for increased accountability of private-sector election contractors – those who design and manufacture the voting equipment, as well as those certified to print the ballots that are counted by voting machines.  When Debra discovered one voting system vendor had sold unapproved voting machines in California, she sued the company and brought in $3.25 million for California taxpayers.  When another voting system used by Humboldt County demonstrated serious software flaws and deleted nearly 200 ballots from the original election tally and left no accurate audit trail, Debra conducted an independent investigation and ultimately decided to withdraw state approval of that voting system.