Home
Site Map
Reports
Voting News
Info
Donate
Contact Us
About Us

VotersUnite.Org
is NOT!
associated with
votersunite.com

County balks at buying new voting system

Officials frustrated over rush to upgrade

By Mike Joseph    Centre Daily    11 December 2005

STATE COLLEGE Centre County's top elected official said the county may forgo almost $1 million in federal money for a new electronic voting system rather than accept an unwanted product.

"This is probably one of the most important things we have to do as adults," county Board of Commissioners Chairman Chris Exarchos told about 50 people Thursday night. "I may be putting our $900,000 in jeopardy, but I'm not putting your vote in jeopardy."

His remark reflects growing frustration among county leaders across the state who are facing a federal mandate to upgrade voting systems in time for the May 16 primary election. They say they're being asked to rush to judgment and commit a lot of taxpayer money to buy new systems, even though the Pennsylvania Department of State has so far approved only three systems, with another five awaiting tests.

The counties were expected to contract with a voting machine company by Jan. 1, but the state last week gave them more time. But more time spent choosing a system will mean less time for training on that system before May.

Commissioners Exarchos, Steve Dershem and Scott Conklin and others have been sitting through demonstrations by companies that are trying to sell the county 400 machines enough for 85 polling places for about $3,000 each.

One company, Hart Intercivic, offers a machine with a scroll wheel that lets a voter highlight his choices, then punch a button to register his vote.

"You'll see a waving American flag," salesman Lawrence Leach said, "and that's how you know your vote is counted."

Other machines, from Advanced Voting Solutions and Election Systems & Software, have touchscreens that make voting something like ordering a six-inch meatball sub at Sheetz. Some systems give voters a random four-digit code to sign on. Others offer a swipe card.

During a demonstration of the Hart machine Wednesday in a lunchroom in the county Willowbank Building, four polls workers crowded above the instrument and worked six keys: Select, Enter, Previous, Next, Help and Cast Ballot.

One worker's spouse, Rush Township resident Robert Snyder, approached the machine, extended a tentative index finger just far enough to reach the Select wheel, then stepped back. He said senior citizens like himself, the most consistent voters, would be intimidated.

"They're going to take one look at that, and they're going to walk back out," Snyder said.

The commissioners figure the hardware will cost $1.2 million, with another $300,000 needed for software, licenses, fees and voter education. The federal government will provide 60 percent of that money, and county taxpayers 40 percent.

But the demonstrations so far have left Exarchos and others looking for features that aren't there, such as a voter-verified paper ballot printout. That feature would give voters immediate evidence of how the machine recorded their votes, without identifying the voter, and provide a record for possible audits.

"It makes sense to be able to audit and recount our vote," Marybeth Kuznik, a Westmoreland County election inspector and founder of voter advocacy group VotePa.com, told the Thursday community meeting.

"It's not rocket science to take a little slip printer to give it to the voter," Exarchos said, noting that restaurants and automatic-teller machines can do it. "The voter can look at it, like it or not, and put it in the ballot box."

But state law prohibits such voter-verified printouts. Bureau of Elections spokesman Brain McDonald said it would be impossible to keep voters from taking the printouts from the polling places to use as proof in such criminal activities as vote-buying.

The one state-approved voting system that has such printouts, AccuPoll, was certified only on condition that the printout function not be used.

"This is a dilemma for me," said Exarchos, his remarks Thursday rousing his audience to applause three times. "We're not ready to roll this out. I think we need the federal government to give us another year or two."

He's not alone as counties come to terms with the Help America Vote Act, the federal law to provide money to states to replace punch-card and other voting systems with systems that are accessible to people with disabilities and, among other things, prevent overvoting. Overvoting occurs when a voter s too many candidates for an office, thus invalidating his vote.

Pennsylvania county officials are crying for help because the federal money will not cover the entire cost of the new systems and because the state hasn't approved enough systems to give the counties wider choices. They also say there's too little time to analyze, compare and purchase systems, then teach poll workers and voters to use them by May.

Douglas Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, said Congress has refused a request to extend the law's deadline.

Hill said all 67 Pennsylvania counties need to upgrade their voting systems to some extent to comply with the law. The refusal of any one county could jeopardize the federal money for the entire state.

No county has yet signed a contract for a new voting system, McDonald said.

The rush to comply could thrust Pennsylvania's voters into unfamiliar and untried voting systems in a year when the national political spotlight will be on the Keystone State.

"We're very anxious about this because Pennsylvania has two significant races next year, the Senate race and the governor's race, and we're going into it with all new equipment," Hill said.

Clinton County Commissioner Bud Yost faulted state authorities for approving only three voting systems so far.

"They've got us backed in a corner a little bit but haven't given us a real choice on equipment," Yost said. "We should have known a long time ago which machines were available and which aren't. We're coming right down to the wire, and we have to make a decision."

In Blair County, the commissioners' chief clerk, Terry Wagner said "there's just a lot of concern that we're not going to be ready we're rushing headlong into this and there's some aspects of this that haven't been worked out yet."

Blair County elections chief Shirley Crowl said: "We're kind of up against the wall."

Exarchos asked Thursday night's audience to call the state's U.S. senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. Santorum spokesman Robert Traynham said Friday that Santorum has already received "a number of grievances" from counties about the Help America Vote Act and is working with Gov. Ed Rendell to address the concerns.



Previous Page
 
Favorites

Election Problem Log image
2004 to 2009



Previous
Features


Accessibility Issues
Accessibility Issues


Cost Comparisons
Cost Comparisons


Flyers & Handouts
Handouts


VotersUnite News Exclusives


Search by

Copyright © 2004-2010 VotersUnite!