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Thumbs-up for touch screen

Columnist finds electronic voting machine easy to use, similar to ATM

By David Giffels    Akron Beacon Journal     06 November 2005

Voter turnout for last month's constitutional referendum in Iraq: 63 percent.

Stark County's predicted turnout for Tuesday's election: 35 percent.

Go America. Woo.

But what's bad for democracy is good for introducing technology. The expected light traffic at the polls Tuesday will give area election officials an opportunity to smooth out wrinkles as Ohio begins the transition to electronic voting.

Stark, Medina and Portage are the first area counties to dip their toes into the pool of the future. They will be closely watched by the rest of the state as they debut touch-screen voting machines at their polling places Tuesday.

As a 21st century man, I decided to boldly go where most Ohio voters will be going soon. At the Stark County Board of Elections last week, I test drove a Diebold AccuVote-TSX.

I can tell you this: It hurt much less than the time I volunteered to be zapped by a Taser. As new-technology-guinea-pig experiments go, this was a cakewalk.

I probably knew as little about touch voting as most voters when I arrived to put a demonstration model of the Diebold machine through its paces.

When voters arrive at their polling places, they'll check in with the poll worker and sign the book as always. Then they'll be given a ``voter access card,'' which is programmed by the poll worker to contain all the ballot information for that precinct.

The card I used was encoded with mock election information. It's similar to the plastic key cards used to open hotel room doors.

I slid the card into a slot on the side of the machine. It made a clicking sound, and instructions appeared on the screen, including boxes for ``large text'' or ``high contrast.'' This was my first opportunity to try the touch system.

Most of us have used bank machines with this technology. Instead of pressing buttons, the choices are made right on the glass.

After choosing the ``large text'' option, I pressed a green box labeled ``next.'' A slate of candidates appeared.

Because this was a demonstration ballot, I was given fake choices for president, with several Ohio-born presidents listed one after the other. Each name had a blank box next to it. I touched the box for Ulysses S. Grant. An ``X'' appeared under my fingertip.

I decided to change my vote. To do that, I touched the box again, making the X disappear. Then I touched the box next to William H. Taft (making me perhaps the last Ohioan to vote for a Taft for anything). A new X appeared.

Seeing the marked boxes on the screen strikes me as an advantage over the punch-card ballot, where, once you pull the stylus out, you can't see what choice you've made, nor can you undo your choice in favor of another.

I moved on to the next section of the electronic ballot, with the heading ``Minister of Space.'' I gave Judith Resnik the nod over worthy opponents John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.

For the next office ``Commissioner of Ohio Literature'' I decided to go mano a mano with some of the Buckeye State's famous writers. I entered myself as a write-in candidate.

To do this, I ed the box next to ``write-in,'' the last ion under the list of candidates. A keyboard appeared on the screen, and I was able to type in my own name, entering it by pressing ``record write-in.''

And so on. On-screen instructions such as ``next page'' and ``back'' are clear and unambiguous. After a few touches on the screen, I felt very comfortable with the process, and I'm somebody who doesn't even own a cell phone.

After I voted, the machine took me to a ``Summary Page,'' where I was able to review all my choices. If I saw something I didn't like, I could either use the ``back'' button or touch the office or issue where I wanted to make changes, and I would return to that page.

Once I was satisfied, I touched ``Print Ballot.'' Under a clear screen to the right, a paper ticket like that in a cash register scrolled through, printed with my ions. At this point, I could still make changes by ing ``Reject Ballot.'' Everything looked fine, and I ed ``Cast Ballot,'' making my pretend vote official.

The paper receipt records all the ions made on that machine; it is collected in a sealed canister and serves as a physical backup to the electronically stored data.

After my ballot was cast, the machine ejected the voter access card. At the polling place, voters will hand it back to a poll worker, get a sticker, and go on their merry way.

Forty-one Ohio counties will use touch-screen voting machines Tuesday, and three will use optical scan systems. Within a year, the whole state will have made the transition from punch cards.

Maybe the novelty will draw a few more voters to the polls.



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