City, county voting devices differ

Officials can't agree on system that could be bought jointly

Friday, October 7, 2005

BY MOLLY PARKER    The Journal Star
PEORIA - Election booths in both the city and county will be equipped with new electronic voting machines by the March primary, complete with all the bells and whistles required by federal law.

Those machines, however, will be vastly different.

It's a shame, officials said, that the Peoria Election Commission and the Peoria County Clerk's Office couldn't agree upon a single system that could be purchased jointly, perhaps saving taxpayer money.

A single system also would allow the city and county to share the machines and technical support, as well as alleviate confusion for voters, some contend.

"I think it's tragic that we'll end up with two different systems," said at-large Peoria City Councilman Gary Sandberg.

Following the law

The 2002 Help America Vote Act requires all voting outfits to have equipment in place by January that allows anyone to vote without assistance. The new touch-screen electronic machines have capabilities such as reading to the blind and recording votes with the same "sip and puff" technology that operates a wheelchair for a quadriplegic. The law only requires one such machine per precinct, but both the city and county have opted to replace all their voting equipment with the new technology.

"It's sad that we didn't come to an agreement, because it would have benefited the taxpayers," said Peoria County Board Chairman Dave Williams.

Both Peoria Election Commission Executive Director Jeanette Mitzelfelt and Peoria County Clerk JoAnn Thomas said they did talk about purchasing the same equipment, but that they couldn't come to an agreement because of varying needs. The system the city is poised to purchase, for example, was designed to handle cumulative voting, which is used to elect at-large council members.

The county's system, on the other hand, is federally certified to support absentee ballots. This was essential for the county, because unlike the city, it leases its current optical-scan voting system and must turn it over, while the city owns its machines and can use it as a backup for absentee balloting.

Both companies could produce machines that meet both needs, but that could be more costly.

Another reason?

Former League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria President Cheryl Budzinski, who fought unsuccessfully for a 2004 referendum that would have consolidated city and county election services, conjectured that the real reason for buying separate systems is so the Peoria Election Commission could mitigate the chance of the offices combining, which would essentially eliminate the commission.

"That's absolutely untrue," Mitzelfelt said.

The city is looking to buy about 300 new machines from Dundee-based Populex Corp. for just under $1 million, though about half that cost will be covered by federal grants, Mitzelfelt said.

The company is designing the machines specifically for the city and has been working with election officials since shortly after the 2000 presidential election.

A new system

Populex, in fact, was formed at the behest of election commissioner Eugene Wittry, who asked his cousin's husband, Sanford Morganstein, to work with the commission to come up with a system that would meet the city's needs. Morganstein invented the automated attendance telephone feature used by most companies, which enabled voice mail, said company spokeswoman Elizabeth Miller. Sangamon County also plans to use the Populex system.

Thomas, however, said she had concerns about the company's inexperience and its ability to meet the county's needs. Populex only has been officially tried once, at a small fire district election in Missouri earlier this year.

The county's chosen company, Hart InterCivic, has been used in 22 states and comes highly recommended, she said.

On Thursday, the County Board is expected to vote on a resolution that will allow Thomas to begin negotiations with the Texas-based firm. The county is looking to buy about 200 machines for roughly $800,000, though about $685,000 is expected to be covered by federal grants.

Both Mitzelfelt and Thomas said they will work together to educate voters on the new systems. They plan to appear at various events to display both machines.

"We both decided we're not going to agree on the kind of equipment we're going to buy, but we're going to work together and that's going to be the important thing," Thomas said.