Former Senator Bruce McPherson wasn’t fully confirmed this week as Secretary of State, after Assembly Democrats decided they wanted more time to deliberate. But many local elections officials say the longer the wait, the more time lost on some important work left undone by Kevin Shelley.

On this week’s newsmagazine version of The California Report (click here for airtimes), we’re taking a look at the many challenges facing the state’s next chief elections officer. Most notable are federal and state deadlines of January 1, 2006 for changes to voting machines and systems.

For example: a relatively new state law mandates a voter-verified paper record of ballots that are cast. While the law was prompted by fears about the accuracy of electronic touchscreen machines, even paper-ballot systems… used in dozens of counties… will now have to produce a second paper record of every vote that is cast. And regardless of what machines any given county now has on hand, not a single machine is fully certified as having met the requirement.

The possibility of missing these federal and state deadlines is the story that got lost in the storm surrounding Kevin Shelley. But some local elections officials I spoke with believe it may be the real legacy of the six months or so that the Secretary of State’s office was consumed with policy and political scandals.