Secretary of state to address voting

By PATRINA A. BOSTIC??? Longview News-Journal?? April 20, 2005

Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams will field questions Thursday from local county officials about the Help America Vote Act.

Among other topics, he will address how counties can spend grant money that grew out of legislation signed by President Bush in 2002 that requires new and upgraded voting machines to be in place by Jan. 1. The law was written to help states follow a uniform voting standard.

Williams will meet with local elections administrators and other elected officials at 3:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Gregg County Courthouse in the commissioners courtroom. Upshur, Rusk and Harrison county officials have been invited. Williams' visit to East Texas is part of a state tour to inform people about the act.

The federal law requires counties to put in place a direct record electronic system at each polling location and to ensure that the machines comply with the Americans Disabilities Act and the Texas Rehabilitation Act, said Jonathan Black, spokesman for the secretary of state.

The direct record electronic machines, known as DREs, should be accessible to people with disabilities, including paraplegics and voters who are visually impaired or illiterate, Black said.

Voting machines must also provide alternative languages, particularly Spanish for this area, but that's just part of what the act requires. Some voting machines are old and must be d to meet new federal requirements.

Williams also wants feedback from county officials on the secretary of state's performance.

The office is interested in "finding out what we are doing right (and) finding out what we could be doing better," Black said. "We are all on the same team and we all want to make sure that Texas has the best elections possible."

He will likely get questions and feedback.

Gregg County Interim Elections Administrator Kathryn Nealy said her office is compiling a list of questions for Williams.

Her main questions are how Help America Vote Act grant money can be spent and what the county has to do to qualify for additional funding, she said.

Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt said the county expects to receive $539,000 total and already has $184,000 of that. County officials have said that, ideally, the grant should pay for the new equipment, but they won't know for sure until they determine the cost of each new voting machine.

Stoudt said he doesn't know if Gregg County is eligible to receive additional grant money, but that is one of the questions that will be asked Thursday.

"My concern is will we have enough machines to do all those elections simultaneously when cities and schools all have their elections at the same time," Stoudt said. "We need to know those things prior to purchasing those machines.

"What I'm promoting is that we have clear and open communication with all the entities so we can deal with this issue," he said.