POMPANO BEACH
Blah-blah ballot too long for touch screen

Wordy ballot answers force Pompano Beach residents to use both paper and electronic voting in the upcoming election.

BY JESSE ABRAMS-MORLEY

jmorley@herald.com

Broward County's electronic voting machines have met their match: wordiness.

Pompano Beach residents voting March 9 on whether to support the annexation of Leisureville will have to use paper ballots because the text for responses to the question doesn't fit on the electronic machine's screen.

Voters will be asked to fill in the circle next to their choice with a pencil or black pen. Officials with the city clerk's office said all other voting at the polls will be done electronically.

The machines, which cost the county $17.2 million, were produced by Omaha-based Election Systems & Software. Meghan McCormick, an ES&S spokeswoman, explained that the machines are set up to have plenty of room for referendum questions but only a little space for responses. The responses usually consist of only ''in favor'' or ``opposed.''

In this case, voters have the choice of ''For annexation of property described in ordinance No. 2004-16 of the city of Pompano Beach,'' or a sentence that's the same except it starts with ``Against.''

''This has happened almost never,'' McCormick said. ``This is really unusual text.''

She said the company offered to work with the city to redo the answers, but the city declined. ES&S then helped prepare paper ballots for the upcoming election.

Pompano Beach City Clerk Mary Chambers could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Paper ballots for the Pompano election are available at all six early-voting locations, which opened Wednesday, said Deputy Supervisor of Elections Gisela Salas. Residents can go to any of the offices, not just the one closest to them. For more information, call the county Supervisor of Elections' office at 954-357-7050.

The electronic machines have been used in the county since 2002 and have come under scrutiny for not leaving a paper trail so that voters can verify their choices.

Some have also criticized the machines for making it difficult to determine voter intent in a recount. The January special election for state House District 91 was decided by 12 votes; more than 100 voters cast ''undervotes,'' or votes for nobody.

In that election, a cartridge used to open and close the machines malfunctioned in one precinct, delaying the final count. The precinct was in Pompano Beach.