So simple: Just touch name of candidate you want to win

Bayonne seniors test electronic voting machines

Wednesday, February 18, 2004
By Bonnie Friedman
Journal staff writer

With the 2004 presidential race heating up, Hudson County is getting ready by acquiring roughly 600 state-of-the-art electronic voting machines, which Bayonne voters got a chance to try out yesterday.

The new machines, which feature a touch-pad screen and a keyboard to type in the names of write-in candidates, will replace the machines with lever systems first introduced to the county in 1949.

"Because the machines are digital, there are virtually no moving parts and no chance that they will break down," said Freeholder Barry Dugan of Bayonne.

Bayonne Mayor Joseph V. Doria Jr. appeared at the demonstrations, which were held at three senior centers around the city and at City Hall. The trials, he said, were designed to familiarize voters with the new equipment.

"It's important to educate everyone, especially seniors," Doria said. "We want to let people see that the machines are not that different, in fact, they are easier to use."

Purchased from Sequoia Voting Systems,

The new machines, from Sequoia Voting Systems, were purchased at a price of $4.8 million with money from the county and through the federal government's 2002 Help America Vote Act. The federal government is picking up about 60 percent of the cost of the machines, Doria said.

At the Back Bay Gardens on Avenue A, seniors lined up after lunch to cast a vote for president; their choices included Abraham Lincoln, Aaron Burr, Martha Washington and Andrew Jackson.

"It looks easy," said Angelina Sweeney, a Back Bay Gardens resident, after testing out the machine. "I like that if you make a mistake, you can do it over."

With the new machines, voters touch the name of the candidate they wish to vote for and a light goes on.

If they make a mistake, they simply press the button again and the light goes off, freeing them to recast their vote.

Voters with hearing or sight impairments and the handicapped are able to use the system.

Tabulating the votes also is a smoother process, election board officials said.

Once voting has ended, poll workers print out four copies of the results for the city clerk, the county clerk, the superintendent of elections and the polling site.

In addition, each machine comes equipped with a cartridge that keeps a record of which ballots were cast on the machine and that can be removed and sent to the City Clerk's Office at the end of the voting day to verify the printouts.

Allen Ross, a voting machine technician, was assisting voters during yesterday's demonstration.

"Life is so much easier now," said Ross, who has worked for the Board of Elections for 22 years. "I can't wait to see how the first election turns out."

All of the new machines will be in place by the June 8 primary, but some voters will get to test them out earlier at the school board elections, held in April, officials said.