Voting machines might be kept

Otherwise, taxpayers would have to foot the bill for new ones

HANNAH MITCHELL   Charlotte Observer   25 November 2005

Catawba County officials say the county may be able to continue using its voting machines, saving taxpayers the cost of replacing them.

Officials had thought the county might have to buy new machines because the company that sold them, Hart InterCivic, did not try to get the equipment certified for use under a new state law.

The state required companies to submit bids for certification of their machines this month, but Hart did not submit one.

However, there is a separate process that Hart can use to request certification, and Catawba officials have asked the company to do so. The N.C. Board of Elections will take such requests on Dec. 1 from companies that had not made bids.

Hart spokesman Phillip Braithwaite said the company hopes to make the request. It did not submit a bid because company officials were concerned about some terms and conditions in the new law. If those conditions can be negotiated, Hart wants to proceed with certification. If not, it probably won't, he said.

The new state law requires the paper trail of votes and for machines to meet 2002 federal standards. As a result, many machines in the state are obsolete.

But Catawba County officials said they believe Catawba's electronic voting machines, just purchased in 2003, can be retrofitted to produce paper ballots that voters can see before casting their choices.

Assistant Catawba County Manager Lee Worsley said he has urged Hart InterCivic's president to request certification of the machines so the retrofitting can be done in time for next year's primaries. "He said they'd certainly be in contact with the state board and see what could be worked out, see what options they had," Worsley said.

In case Hart decides to pull out of North Carolina, Catawba is studying how it would replace its machines, which cost $1.4 million.

"We're working as hard as we can to get our equipment certified," Worsley said, "but we're beginning to plan and think about what we need to do in case our equipment is not certified."