Legislative panel to check voting-machine concerns

02/28/04

Julie Carr Smyth
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus- State legislative leaders announced late Friday that they will launch a review into the security of new electronic voting machines scheduled to be unveiled in Ohio this year.

House Speaker Larry Householder and Senate President Doug White appointed a 10-member Joint Committee on Ballot Security and said they will instruct the group to begin meeting immediately.

The move follows calls by State Sens. Jeff Jacobson, a Dayton Republican, and Teresa Fedor, a Toledo Democrat, to block further money from the State Controlling Board for the controversial machines until security concerns are resolved. New machines are being deployed to replace punch-card systems around the country under the federal Help America Vote Act passed in response to the 2000 presidential election.

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who is overseeing the machine upgrade, briefed legislators last week to try to head off mounting criticism in the legislature - and just Thursday wrote a letter to White asking him to clarify his intentions.

"I am legally obligated to continue [Help America Vote Act] implementation and cannot, in good conscience, agree to a delay in our Controlling Board request without some sense of future resolution," Blackwell wrote.

White said he wants to "ensure any potential flaws in new technology are addressed before the systems are deployed."

The results of Blackwell's own security review of the equipment were announced Dec. 2, yet this is the legislature's first formal look at the issue.

Householder spokesman Dwight Crum would not discuss possible political motivations behind the sudden announcement that a committee had been created. It followed by only a day an announcement that Blackwell's office had broadened its investigation into the fund-raising practices of Householder and his chief fund-raiser, Kyle Sisk.

Crum said the committee was formed at the request of House and Senate membership. "We did our due diligence and studied the issue," he said. "These are very complicated issues, so that takes some time."