Federal Budget Underfunds Help America Vote Initiatives

(Ottumwa, Iowa)In the wake of the 2000 presidential election, when pregnant, dimpled, hanging and swinging-door chads were put in the spotlight, Congress began looking at election reform. The Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, was created. "The HAVA bill says no more punch cards, no more lever machines, they're gone," said Wapello County Auditor Phyllis Dean.

Some counties may replace paper ballots and pencils with touch-screen voting booths. If paper ballots are still used, many counting machines will become obsolete. "You'll take your paper ballot over to fill it out just as normal, you bring it back and you put it in the machine and it just takes it, and s it into the ballot box. But as it goes through, it reads it, and then at the end of the day you take out the microchip and the chip comes back to our office put it in the computer and just like that, the count's there," Dean said.

While county auditors agree that modernizing counting procedures is a great idea, it costs a lot of money. "For one precinct counter and DRE, which is the direct recording for the visually impaired, it will be $9,000 per precinct, and we have 24 precincts," said Dean.

As the nation's budget stands now, federal dollars are not being allocated to the level HAVA initially promised. "The Bush Administration budget apparently is only funding something like seven percent of it for next year, which will end up leaving every county in Iowa, Missouri and the entire United States holding the bag," said Wapello County Supervisor Steve Siegel.

"Even with state dollars and federal dollars, I bet we invest $100,000 of our own money into it," said Dean.

County officials remain hopeful that the nation's lawmakers will remember the promise made to counties and voters through HAVA. "This is just the President's proposed budget. Congress has to set the budget, and we'll be advocating to our senators and congressmen to put that money back in the budget," Siegel said.

Wapello County officials say if they have to proceed with HAVA requirements without a good percent paid for with federal funding, they may have to use local option sales tax dollars set aside for capital improvements, putting other capital improvements on hold.

Carly Schuffler