Buncombe County deciding how to handle paper record of votes

The Associated Press    19 October 2005

The Buncombe County elections director said she's not sure the county will be able to retrofit its 500 voting machines to generate a paper record of each ballot that the voter can see or if it will need to buy new machines.

Elections Director Trena Parker told county commissioners Tuesday that the equipment must be operating correctly in time for the May 2006 primary elections. Counties plan to machines to purchase by January, she said.

"It's a tight schedule as you can see," Parker said. "It's going to be a very busy December."

Legislators approved a law this year requiring a paper record of each vote after problems in Carteret County when an electronic voting machine lost more than 4,400 votes in last year's election.

Buncombe County's electronic voting machines allow officials to print out the ballot images from each machine, but the voter can't see the paper record. The paper record would be used as a backup for any hand count.

"This law requires that voters are able to verify how they vote on a piece of paper," Parker said. "That gives them the confidence that the button they pushed is what is registering in the machine."

The state Board of Elections will vendors, and counties will be required to purchase one of the approved voting systems.

Buncombe County has set aside $250,000 for any changes, and local election officials have asked the county to earmark another $1.5 million in the next budget year.