Scan ballots to offer little confusion
RAY MILLER, Staff Writer
January 22, 2004

MARICOPA - The Pinal County Elections Department expects little or no confusion when voters use the new Accuvote electronic ballot scanning system during the Democratic Presidential Preference Election Feb. 3, and again in the special district and municipal election primaries on March 9.
The Arizona presidential primary, which will see Democrats across the state indicate their choice of a candidate to oppose President Bush in November, is drawing national attention.

Gilbert Hoyos, county elections director, said the new system was first tested in Pinal County in the 1996 presidential preference election.

"It went off without a hitch," Hoyos said. "Based upon that experience, we don't anticipate that the voters will have any major problems with the new system in the upcoming elections."

Under the new system, voters will indicate their votes on a paper ballot by filling in ovals, which are next to candidates' names, with a special pencil. The paper ballot is then fed into the Accuvote machine by the voter, where it is instantly scanned and the results electronically recorded.

When the polls close, the machines will be connected to a telephone line and the polling results will be electronically sent to the county department. Unofficial results should be available to the public within minutes of the close of the polling places and be extremely accurate. Manual counting and tallying will be eliminated.

Hoyos said his department has worked hard to eliminate any possible points of confusion in the process.

"One of the things we have done to help the voter is to place the oval, which will be filled in by the voter to indicate a vote, to the left of the candidate's name, rather than the right. This eliminates the neccessity of using connecting dots, which some elderly people have found difficult to follow," he said.

Hoyos also said officials will be on hand at the polling places to help voters who have questions about the process.

To help smooth the transition from the old to the new system, Hoyos is sending teams from his office to show and demonstrate the new system to the eight municipal and special district jurisdictions that will use the new system for the first time March 9.

These jurisdictions include Maricopa, Coolidge, Florence, Eloy, Kearny, Mammoth, Casa Grande Union High School District (budget override) and Superior High School District.

The first "show and tell" introduction of the new voting machines was made Tuesday night at the Maricopa City Council meeting.

Hoyos warned people intending to vote in the March 9 municipal or special district elections that if they are not registered to vote within Pinal County, they must do so by Feb. 9. Voters must be registered within the county where they reside.

©Casa Grande Valley Newspaper 2004