New voting system in the works

June 2, 2005

BY STEVE PATTERSON??? Chicago Sun Times?? ?
A $50 million overhaul to Chicago and Cook County voting systems is set to begin.

The Chicago Board of Elections voted Wednesday to contract with Sequoia Voting Systems to provide new touch-screen and scanning voting machines for city voters.

The same machines, provided by the same vendor, were recommended last week by Cook County Clerk David Orr and will be voted upon by the county board.

All machines, per the federal Help America Vote Act, must be in place for the 2006 primaries, and are paid for by federal funds.

Chicago Board of Elections chairman Langdon Neal said while "the old punch-card system is gone," voters will still rely upon "a paper-based system" to vote.

The electronic machines print out a tally of votes, which a voter can verify before submitting it.

At least one touch-screen machine will be installed at each Chicago precinct, with the rest being optical-scan voting machines.

Those produce a sheet similar to a standardized test, where voters shade in bubbles for candidates and the results are scanned.

Neal said Sequoia was the city's lowest bidder, though Commissioners Richard Cowen and Theresa Petrone said they had concerns, but both voted to allow negotiations to begin with Sequoia.