State gives three choices for voting machines

By Jennifer Turner   The Benton County Daily Record    December 20, 2005

BENTON COUNTY ?Quorum Court members here will decide this week between three options for new voting machines as set forth by the state.

State Election Coordinator Rob Hammons will present the options to the Quorum Court in a regularly scheduled Quorum Court meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday in the county administration building.

The county must get new voting machines to replace the punch-card voting system currently in place. The new machines will meet standards set by the Help America Vote Act, which requires all states to revamp their voting methods and machines.

The state will give Benton County $763,624 to pay for the new machines. Any costs beyond that amount will be left up to the county, according to a Dec. 9 letter from Secretary of State Charlie Daniels.

The first option is to install one optical-scan voting machine at each polling site to process paper ballots, plus one electronic voting machine for disabled voters. Each polling site must include one electronic voting machine to allow visually and physically impaired voters to access the ballot. This option would require the county to buy 80 each of an optical-scan machine and an electronic machine, plus one central-count machine for absentee voting. The cost for that option is $682,635, leaving an additional $80,989 to be used for ongoing maintenance and software costs.

The second option is to install one electronic voting machine at each polling site for voters with disabilities, plus enough additional electronic machines to accommodate all voters. The state recommends installing one machine per 200 voters, bringing the total in Benton County to 256 machines. The cost for that option would be $1,055,139, requiring the county to pay $291,515, plus additional costs for maintenance and software.

The third option is to install one electronic voting machine at each polling site for disabled voters. Non-disabled voters would vote on paper ballots similar to the current voting systems. The paper ballots would be stored in ballot boxes and counted after polls close using three new central-count machines. The cost for this option is $354,235, leaving the county $409,389 to pay for ongoing maintenance and software.

The third option ?the option recommended by the Benton County Election Commission ? does not alert voters of an overvote. The first two options tell a voter if he or she voted twice in one election and gives the voter a chance to correct the vote. HAVA requires that voters be alerted of overvoting. The only way to waive this requirement is to conduct a voter education program specific to the voting system that notifies each voter of the effect of casting multiple votes for an office and providing the voter with instructions on how to correct the error with a replacement ballot.

Jim McCarthy, Benton County election coordinator, said the election commission was surprised at the high cost of software and maintenance. The state requires that each county purchase the appropriate software and maintenance materials even if those materials are never used, incurring high, yet possibly unnecessary, costs.

The county is required to have new voting machines in place for the May 2006 primary election. In order for that to happen, orders must be placed soon with the machine manufacturer, Election Systems and Software, Inc.

The replacement of voting machines in Arkansas is taking place in two phase. Benton County is part of Phase I. Phase II will be completed before the November 2006 general election.