SAN DIEGO -- The head of the local Democratic Party said Monday he will ask the San Diego County Board of Supervisors today to schedule public hearings to investigate the county's handling of the June primary, including its decision to send electronic voting machines home with poll workers several days before the election.

Jess Durfee, chairman of the San Diego County Democratic Party, said he will stress during a public comment period in the morning board meeting and in a press conference afterwards that election integrity was compromised by what he calls the "sleep over" policy. Durfee said it is his hope that a round of public hearings will yield a new set of reforms, including a ban on the practice.

"There have got to be some better security measures than letting voting machines, which are vulnerable to being tampered with, sit in someone's living room or garage," he said.

Durfee said he also wants hearings to address complaints his party received about some voters receiving absentee ballots too late to mail them in before the election and others getting information-loaded sample ballots as much as 10 days after they received absentee forms.

Mikel Haas, the county's elections chief, defended the county's decision to send the electronic voting machines home, saying it was a practical way of make sure the devices reached all of the county's 1,646 polling places on time. He said the alternative would a massive, time-consuming delivery process early on the mornings of elections. Haas also said safeguards are in place to prevent tampering.

For starters, the machines are placed only with poll inspectors, he said

"We just don't give this stuff out like candy," Haas said.

Haas also stressed each touch screen is sealed before it is sent home, and the seal would have to be broken to compromise a machine.

"They are suit-case size," he said. "They have a handle on them. They probably weigh about 25 pounds."

Haas said he could not understand the concern because it has been the county's practice for decades to send paper-ballot machines home with inspectors. Durfee said that, in an era of expanding reliance on computer voting, it is a practice that should be discontinued. Durfee maintained that it was reasonably easy to spot tainted paper ballots but that it is difficult to detect tampering with touch screens.

Durfee noted that the newly formed state Senate Select Committee on California Election Integrity is looking into San Diego County's practice, among other statewide voting issues.

Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, in being named committee chairwoman, said in a statement: "I certainly don't condone the idea of sending voting machines that have a documented history of security problems home with poll workers days or weeks before the election, which is what happened in San Diego County last month."

Durfee said he also will ask that the county board investigate reports of:

• Absentee ballots being sent to voters too late to be returned by mail. He cited a UC Berkeley student from the county who shipped his through overnight delivery.

• Sample ballots arriving well after absentee ballots.

• Inadequate training for poll workers.

• Workers for Diebold, the company that provide touch screens to the county, playing a role in the tallying of primary votes.

Haas denied the latter, saying Diebold employees were around to lend a hand in the event that the electronic voting system malfunctioned but only county registrar employees counted votes.

"If something goes wrong, they can assist," he said. "They work for us."

And, Haas said, "I don't think it would be all that smart to not have them around."

- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.