Going digital in the polling place

County using touch-screens in primary

By COREY A. WASHINGTON

Staff Writer

Voting has officially come to the digital age, at least in San Bernardino County, as more than half a million registered voters will now use electronic machines to cast their votes.

For about $30 million, the electronic voting system, which includes 4,000 computer units, is now the county's after more than two years of debate.

The city of Highland was the first to use the machines in the recall election of three City Council members in November.

Scott Konopasek, the county's registrar of voters, is confident the new system his department has adopted will increase the rate of accuracy when votes are counted in the coming election seasons.

"There will always be errors when humans are involved, but everyone has done an excellent job of preparing the county to take this step," he said.

Willard Kenley, who volunteers at his local polling location in Highland, took his gripes over the state-of-the-art voting systems straight to the Registrar of Voters Office Wednesday morning.

The 76-year-old concerned citizen made his complaint short and sweet, telling the registrar, "I think they suck."

Kenley said he would prefer a receipt after he places his vote as an extra measure to ensure his vote was accurately recorded.

As well, he was concerned over the way the machines were set up at his location.

"I saw some difficulty in the way these things were put together at the church, but now I understand," he said.

Teaching older people such as Kenley to use the machines to their satisfaction was a major focus when the machines were implemented, according to Konopasek.

But they aren't the most confused about how to use the system, he says.

"They seem to enjoy it once they have figured out how to use the system," said Konopasek.

Redlands City Clerk Lorrie Poyzer had similar feelings about how the system would be perceived by local voters.

"It's fairly easy to use," she said. "I think our citizens will be better off with this system than some of the ones I have witnessed in the past."

In addition to ensuring the system is easy to comprehend, security concerns have been addressed from end to end, according to Konopasek, who says many precautions have been taken in developing the entire system.

The touch-screen system comes with three safeguards in the event someone attempts to tamper with the machines to obtain information. Each computer can be replaced for $3,250 in the event of an accident.

And hacking in electronically attacking the system is unlikely because each voting station is a stand-alone computer that individually record votes. The votes are later taken to a central location, where the system is not networked, for tabulation. This leaves no room for outside tampering.

Absentee ballots are counted in a room of 10 computers hooked into an internal network secure from outside interference, Konopasek said. The numerous safeguards have left the registrar confident about the upcoming elections.

The real test to determine if voters approve of the electronic voting system comes on March 2 when more than 650,000 registered voters may turn out for the primary election.