oting machine deadline to be missed
Montgomery elections panel not ready even as state official says it should be

By Jim Bebbington

Dayton Daily News

DAYTON | Montgomery County Board of Elections officials are close to making a choice on a new voting system but may be under a deadline today that they do not want to meet.

On Sunday, Senate President Doug White said Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's request for the state to release $133 million in federal money for the machines will be deferred until April.

White told The Associated Press that he's instructed Sen. Bill Harris to ask the state Controlling Board to defer the request at its meeting today. Harris, R-Ashland, is on the seven-member board that must approve releasing the money.

"Mr. Blackwell understands Sen. Harris is going to make a motion to defer the project. We hope we can come back (in April) and get this thing done," said White, R-Manchester.

Montgomery County Board of Elections member Sue Finley said Blackwell told an audience in Beavercreek a week ago that if boards of election do not pick a new voting system by today, Blackwell will pick one for them.

"I took it as a threat," Finley said.

Montgomery County is one of nine in the state that did not meet Blackwell's deadline of Jan. 15 to choose new electronic voting systems. Since then, four counties have made ions, Blackwell's spokesman, Carlo LoParo, said.

Montgomery, Preble, Hamilton, Clinton and Highland counties remain undecided.

The state is moving to electronic voting systems under the Help America Vote Act, which offers federal funding to replace punch-card ballots and lever voting machines. The law carries an initial deadline of November, with an extension to January 2006.

Montgomery County's board is down to two finalists and has indicated it could decide at its next meeting, March 25. The two finalists are Diebold Elections Systems and Maximus/Hart Intercivic/DFM Associates.

Montgomery County board members told a Blackwell staff member last week they would not decide by today.

"This is a 20-year decision for our community and I have no intention of succumbing to pressure of any kind," board member Dennis Lieberman said.

Montgomery County is considering proposals to buy 1,675 voting machines that would be paid for by federal funds established by Help America Vote Act, plus as many as 600 more, according to elections Deputy Director Steve Harsman. Total costs for just the machines would be between $6.5 million and $6.6 million.

LoParo said today is not an ironclad deadline, but counties that delay must have a legitimate reason or the office would make ions for them.

Blackwell will ask his staff members to look into each board's reason for not making a decision and offer an extension if they think there are valid concerns.

"If they have a legitimate reason, then certainly it will be taken into consideration, and we'll make a reasonable judgment," LoParo said. "If it's arbitrary, then that will be taken into consideration as well."

The two companies vying for Montgomery County's work both had systems used in Tuesday's California primary. Glitches were reported with both in some counties, but no widespread problems, news reports said.

When some of Diebold's machines were started, they showed a Microsoft Windows start-up screen instead of the e-voting screen. Poll workers were unfamiliar with how to get the machine to show the ballot. Problems have been blamed in part on the complex California ballots or power fluctuations.

The complex ballot also was being blamed for some Orange County poll workers handing out the wrong ballot cards for Hart/Intercivic's eSlate system.

The latest wrinkle in Montgomery County's decision is the possible addition of a requirement that the voting machines print out a paper tabulation of each vote in addition to recording it electronically. Some are asking for the voter-verified ballot out of concern that an electronic-only system could be hacked and altered without any backup record of the actual votes cast.

Representatives from both Diebold and Hart/Intercivic told the Montgomery County board that their systems could be modified to include voter-verified paper receipts.

Meanwhile, the state legislature has created a joint committee to review security issues associated with the new voting machines, including having a voter-verified paper record.

Blackwell, however, wants to move along the process of buying new machines. His office says the vendors' contracts require them to fix the problems, pass another security review and be certified before any new voting system is deployed.

A Controlling Board delay until April 5 still will allow Blackwell's office to begin deploying the machines as scheduled beginning in August, but waiting "puts it right up against the limit," Blackwell said Sunday.

Blackwell intends to make the request of the Controlling Board at today's meeting anyway, but he added he has told White he would do whatever he can to help answer lawmakers' questions.

"I will be fully cooperative. My staff and our contracted vendors will be fully cooperative," Blackwell said.

Susanne Cervenka in Columbus and The Associated Press contributed to this report.