Mexico residents to see changes in voting system
by RYAN SMITH

Ledger Staff Writer

The ripple effect of the controversial 2000 Presidential election will be felt at the local polls beginning in April.

Audrain County, along with many other counties, is in the process of making changes to its voting systems and precincts to cooperate with an election reform bill signed two years ago by President Bush called the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

"We haven't had changes in a long time, but we're going to have to make them to comply with this law," said Audrain County Clerk Shelley Harvey.

The immediate effects are a redistricting of Mexico's precincts for the upcoming April election but it will also mean entirely new voting systems by 2006.

The law was created in the wake of the Florida voting political scandal, in which "hanging chad" became a household word,and many doubted the validity of hundreds of thousands of votes.

The outrage over the election led many to call for a reform of the voting process and equipment in America, saying that much of it was hopelessly antiquated and outdated and led to inaccuracies in recording voters' choices.

The result was the Help America Vote Act, which created for the first time national standards for the administration of all federal, state, and local elections. Those requirements include provisional ballots, statewide computerized voter lists, "second chance" voting, and disability access.

More than $3.8 billion has been budgeted over the next three years by the Act for improvements in elections and voting technology.

As a result of HAVA the current punch card voting system in Audrain County, which has been in place since 1989, is required to be replaced by a new system by 2006.

According to Harvey, the county will see new high tech "optic scan systems" to replace punch cards. With the optic scan machines, voters will feed their ballot into the system, and will have it scanned before ping it into 'a big box'. If voters accidentally 'over vote', the machine will notice the error and spit the ballot back out.

The law will also require DRE systems - touch screen computer systems - designed for handicapped voters.

The voting system changes which are estimated to cost $4,000 to $6,000 for each precinct, will be funded mostly by HAVA. The law outlines a buyout plan for precincts using punch card systems.

According to title I of the law, any precinct that used a punch card voting machine in the 2000 general election qualifies for a $4,000 buyout of the systems.

Harvey said she prefers the current punch card system to the proposed optic scan system.

"This isn't a matter of convenience for us, it's a matter of legislation. I like our system the way it is, and I think it's very efficient," said Harvey. "These legislations are forcing us to change."

Because of the cost of new voting systems under HAVA, the county clerk's office is consolidating the county's precincts for the upcoming April 6 election.

Under these new consolidations, Mexico will have six precincts instead of the current number of nine. According to Harvey, some of the consolidations have already been in effect for the last few elections, but in April, they will be permanent.

Harvey added that the redrawing of the districts "needed to be done anyway".

"Our precincts haven't been redrawn since the time when we had paper ballots, when judges had to count them manually and it took a long time," said Harvey. "We've also seen some population shifts, and we need new boundaries to reflect that."

To inform voters of the changes, new voter identification cards are in the process of being mailed out to Mexico residents with the new information. Most of the cards are expected to be received Saturday or Monday.

The new voting systems in Audrain County will likely be in place for the November 2005 election, but Harvey noted that they could be installed as early as April 2005.

"We're pretty busy right now, and the legislators are still working on the law. Right now we're sort of waiting for the wrinkles to be ironed out," said Harvey.