Last hurrah for voting machines?

By JOHN LATIMER
Lebanon Daily News     07 November 2005

Voters who are inclined to nostalgia might want to linger behind the curtain in the voting booth tomorrow to savor the memory, because it may be the last time they pull a lever to cast a ballot on Election Day.

Instead of voting in the familiar gray, monolithic machines that have been used in the county since the 1950s, voting in the near future will probably be more like using an automated-teller machine, according to Elaine Ludwig, the county?s chief clerk of elections.

A federal mandate in the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ? legislation enacted after Florida?s ?hanging chad? debacle brought into question the results of the 2000 presidential election ? requires states to do away with punch-card and lever-machine voting by 2006. By next spring?s primaries, states must convert to systems that meet physical- and language-accessibility requirements and provide a paper record available for a manual audit ? in other words, electronic-voting machines.

Counties like Lebanon must choose an electronic-voting system from a variety of available machines by a Jan. 1 deadline and have them operable by May, Ludwig said. There is, however, one large obstacle preventing the county commissioners, in their role as the county Board of Elections, from making that decision.

?The state has only certified one company, AccuPoll,? Ludwig said.

Several other companies have applied to have their machines certified, but the process is going agonizingly slow, she added.

?We have heard basically nothing,? Ludwig said. ?We know that one is certified, and we know that several have been decertified.?

While waiting for state officials to certify the voting systems, the county is moving forward the best it can. On Nov. 29, at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center in North Cornwall Township, a handful of electronic-voting system vendors will have their machines on display for the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Ludwig said she has already seen and tried most of the machines made by companies that have applied for state certification. Although more than a dozen machines are on the market, they basically fit into three categories, she said, including optical scanners that require voters to fill out ballots by hand.

While that system has the advantage of providing an instant paper record, Ludwig described it as antiquated. There are 11 counties in the state, including Schuylkill, currently using that type of system, she said.

Another option is the full-face machine. It is a large machine with a screen that allows all the races to be displayed at once. Some have described it as a computerized lever machine.

Initially, the full-face machines were the most expensive option, Ludwig said, but prices are generally around $3,000 per unit regardless of the system. The full-face machine has other drawbacks, she said, including creating confusion for voters who see all the races and candidates at once in a colorful display.

?It is big like we have now, only with buttons,? Ludwig said. ?I think we would have storage and moving issues, and I have concerns about the ease of voting.?

While no type of machine has been ruled out, the style of machine that Ludwig prefers is a touch-screen machine about the size of a typical ATM.

?What these touch screens do is, you are going through pages and at the end it tells you, ?These are offices you voted for.? And it highlights, ?These are the ones you did not vote for. Are you sure you don?t want to go back??? Ludwig said. ?It is just so easy. It is easy to train poll workers on them. It is easier to calculate at the end of the night because it prints out results. It is the way to go.?

During the May primary, voters at three precincts got to test a touch-screen machine and, Ludwig said, the results were favorable.

?When we had our little demonstrations in the primary, we did a survey ... (and) 89 percent said they liked the electronic system,? she said.

Surprisingly, Ludwig said, all of the electronic machines take longer for voters to use than the current lever machines. Therefore, to keep lines moving, the county will be required to purchase about 230 machines to replace the 130 it currently uses in its 59 precincts.

The federal government has allocated about $600,000 for the county to purchase the new voting machines, Ludwig said. The county will be responsible to spend between $200,000 and $250,000 to purchase software and other ancillary equipment, like carts for the machines to rest on, she said.

When a system is finally chosen and purchased, it will not be the end of Ludwig?s worries.

?They may not be as durable,? she said. ?We will get a warranty, and there will be service agreements on the machine. But that is a question I ask (vendors): ?How long do you expect them to go?? And they say, ?Well, you know, 15 years, 10 to 15 years.? That is not a long time compared to how long we have had these lever voting machines.?