Blunt will set rules for voting by touch screen
By Jo Mannies
Post-Dispatch Political Correspondent
02/26/2004

Any touch-screen voting machines used in Missouri elections must also churn out a paper ballot so voters can review them in the booth, says Secretary of State Matt Blunt in an announcement slated to go out today.

Blunt's edict is aimed at local election authorities who want to replace their punch-card ballots with the machines. But in St. Louis County, where authorities are considering a switch, the top election official says the mandate could prove costly.

However, Blunt says that's not the issue. "This requirement will enable voters to review their ballot before it is cast to ensure that it was marked as intended," he said in a statement made available Thursday to the Post-Dispatch.

The paper ballots also would serve as a backup if a machine fails or a recount is needed, he said.

St. Louis and St. Louis County are among the jurisdictions considering touch-screen voting machines to replace punch-card ballots.

But St. Louis County elections director Judy Taylor said Blunt's mandate will add $12 million to the county's proposal to purchase touch-screens next year. Among other things, she said the county would have to build climate-controlled storage facilities to keep the paper ballots for the required two years.

Taylor backs a cheaper approach, which would require that the touch-screen machines have the capability to produce paper ballots - after the polls close - if a dispute arose over a particular contest.

Touch-screen machines that must produce ballots continuously often are plagued by paper jams, which would slow down voting, she added.

County election officials are planning to place a proposal on the ballot Aug. 3 that would ask voters to approve a $25 million bond issue to pay for the new touch-screen voting machines, Taylor said.

The current plan wouldn't require a countywide tax increase. But Blunt's order would increase the cost to $37 million, which might require a tax hike, she said.

Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson took issue with Taylor's complaints. The extra $12 million cost "is debatable," he said.

At issue, for Blunt, is the growing national concern by a bipartisan cadre of critics that touch-screen machines could be susceptible to fraud. California, Washington state and Nevada also are mandating that touch-screen voting machines produce paper ballots.

As a result of the November 2000 election mess in Florida, the federal government is offering some aid to jurisdictions that replace punch-card ballots with newer systems by Jan. 1, 2006. Many urban areas prefer touch screens, which are considered faster than other alternatives.

In Missouri, two-thirds of the voters - mostly in urban and suburban areas - still use punch-card ballots.

Blunt prefers touch-screen machines that would display a paper ballot "behind a plexiglass screen," Jackson said. Voters would verify that the ballot accurately reflected their votes; the ballot then would fall into a secured bin. "They wouldn't touch the ballot," Jackson added.

In St. Louis, city Election Board chairman Derio Gambaro said he was simply pleased that Blunt finally was announcing a decision. "That's been the big stumbling block for us to move forward," Gambaro said.

Reporter Jo Mannies