Uncertain future for state's voting machines
   
By Tobin A. Coleman     Stamford Advocate    November 8 2005

Today could be the last day Connecticut voters use lever-operated voting machines, but what will replace them is unknown.

Next week, the secretary of the state will hold demonstrations of three state-of-the-art voting machines that comply with a Connecticut requirement for a full-face ballot and with the federal Help America Vote Act.

The act was passed in response to the difficulties encountered with ballots in Florida during the 2000 presidential election.

Help America Vote requires machines that handicapped voters can use independently. Optical-scan machines that read paper ballots with colored circles and touch-screen video machines are options.

State officials await a decision from a panel created by Help America Vote on whether the lever machines must be scrapped by year's end.

In response to an inquiry from Pennsylvania officials, the federal Election Assistance Commission ruled in September that, by Jan. 1, voting machines must be handicapped accessible, provide paper backup of voter tallies and be multilingual.

Pennsylvania's lever machines do not fit the bill, the commission ruled. As a result, no lever machines may be used in federal elections, according to the commission. Connecticut and New York are among a few states affected. Both have voting machines similar to those in Pennsylvania.

All U.S. House of Representatives seats and a third of the Senate are up for election next year. Because of new laws in Connecticut, primaries for those seats could be held in August, so the machines would have to be in place by then.

The U.S. Justice Department makes the final decision. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he asked the department in late September to decide whether the Pennsylvania ruling is binding in Connecticut. He has not received a reply, Blumenthal said.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz yesterday said she assumes the ruling will apply.

"We are on track for August" to get new voting machines, Bysiewicz said.

In February, she sent a request for proposals from voting machine companies already qualified by the federal government, that also meet Connecticut standards. The state will need nearly 3,800 voting machines.

The first of five public demonstrations of voting machines is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester.

During the demonstrations, which will be held in each of the state's congressional districts, residents may try the machines and fill out a survey to be tabulated by the polling institute at the University of Connecticut.

Registrars of voters and other municipal officials will attend separate seminars in which vendors will explain how they will train poll workers, registrars of voters and others; help voters use the machines; and tally votes. Registrars also will attend the demonstrations and fill out surveys evaluating the training and the machines, Bysiewicz said.

Richard Abbate, Republican registrar of voters in Cheshire and president of the Registrars of Voters Association of Connecticut, said he has misgivings about the process set up by Bysiewicz.

One vendor has a machine that can be used with optical-scan voting machines already used in eight towns, including Westport and Wilton, and likely fits state requirements, Abbate said.

But that vendor, Automark, did not reply properly to a request to submit its information to the state, Deputy Secretary of the State Maria Greenslade said.

It makes no sense to have voting machine demonstrations in one corner of a congressional district with training for registrars in another part of the district the same day, Abbate said.

"I think it is a travesty to expect registrars who may or may not be involved in recounts for the municipal elections next week have them traipse all over the state to have their voices heard," Abbate said.

Stamford Republican Registrar Lucy Corelli agreed.

Because there is a special election in Bridgeport on Monday to choose the replacement for former Democratic state Sen. Ernest Newton II, who resigned and pleaded guilty to corruption charges, the Fourth Congressional District demonstration is slated for 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 17 at Bridgeport City Hall, 46 Lyon Terrace.

The training will be the same day at the Greens at Cannondale, 435 Danbury Road, Wilton.

Corelli and Stamford Democratic Registrar of Voters Alice Fortunato said they are concerned whether the state will have enough money to pay for the new machines and not shift the burden to municipalities.

The federal government gave the state $33 million to cover the cost of machines and training, and most of the money remains. But Stamford alone could spend more than $1.1 million on its 185 machines and need more for training, they said.

Still, the public demonstrations and UConn surveys are "a good opportunity to review what they're proposing," Fortunato said.

The federal government did not need to outlaw the lever voting machines, which work, Corelli said.

"They could have left well enough alone," she said. "We're not Florida."