TOUCH-SCREEN ELECTIONS
State to shun voting backup
Lawmakers say there's no need to add paper to touch-screen voting machines since they're confident the state's election reforms are satisfactory.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD

Lawmakers: Paper not needed

Touch-screen voting technology, on the cutting edge of election innovation just a few years ago, now is regarded with growing unease by voters who worry their choices won't be correctly counted.

Despite mounting pressure for change, Florida lawmakers are unlikely to require the paper receipts that some experts insist are the only way to ensure voting security.

Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach county leaders agreed last week to press the Legislature to let them add printers that would create a paper record of each ballot. Voters could review the record before they press the ''vote'' button on touch-screen machines.

But Gov. Jeb Bush and lawmakers who have the authority to back such legislation say they're not interested.

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Also opposed to paper ballots are members of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, which maintains that the touch-screen equipment they spent millions on two years ago is reliable and accurate.

Many supervisors fear that printers would add an unreliable layer onto an already technology-intensive process.

''This has become a battle that has really gotten out of hand,'' said Indian River County Supervisor of Elections Kay Clem, president of the statewide election organization.

Voters in 15 Florida counties more than half the state's population use some form of touch-screen equipment.

Florida county commissioners who invested in touch-screen technology thought they were buying foolproof equipment that would help shed the stigma of the 2000 election, said Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman. But there have been questions since the debut of electronic voting in the 2002 primary election.

A few voters have complained that the screens would not accept their choices, and glitches with vote retrieval cartridges have occasionally delayed results.

Late last year, a Herald poll found that in Broward County, more than half of people surveyed said they felt it was important to have a paper record of their vote.

But what convinced commissioners like Lieberman to push for paper receipts was the Jan. 6 state House election in Broward and Palm Beach counties in which 134 electronic ballots were cast without votes for any candidate.

VICTORY MARGIN

Without a paper trail, there was no way to determine whether those 134 voters really intended to make no choice. The ''undervotes'' seemed even more crucial because the margin of victory was just 12 votes.

''It would be very disappointing if [state lawmakers] don't make every reasonable effort to protect people's right to vote,'' Lieberman said. ``Hopefully, we will change their minds.''

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales, also a proponent of paper ballots, believes change is unlikely. ''There's isolated murmurs, but there's not full momentum,'' Morales said. ``And all roads end in Tallahassee on this issue.''

County commissioners do have some congressional support. Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has sponsored legislation requiring printed records. U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, has sued Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore seeking paper ballots.

But the biggest barrier may be the equipment.

Sequoia Voting Systems of California will submit a prototype for federal approval in March. California will require the equipment by 2006.

It probably would operate like a cash register tape. Voters would see the printed outcome of their touch-screen vote on the tape, under glass. Voters would not take the printouts with them.

Palm Beach officials have estimated it would cost about $3.2 million to retrofit machines with printers.

PROTOTYPES

However, Sequoia has not submitted the equipment for approval in Florida, and neither has the Elections Systems and Software of Nebraska, which sold Broward and Miami-Dade their voting machines.

ES&S has prototypes in development, but won't apply for certification until the state issues some guidelines, said spokeswoman Becky Vollmer.

But Hood, Florida's secretary of state, said they won't be issuing any specifications although they will take a look at any equipment the companies submit. Creating guidelines would be up to the Legislature, Hood said.

And the Legislature hasn't jumped to draft any laws. Said Brian Mimbs, a spokesman for Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd:

``It's not really on our radar screen right now.''