State will pick vote machines for the county

By FRITZ WENZEL
BLADE POLITICAL WRITER

Deadlocked over a decision about new voting technology, Democrats and Republicans on the four-member Lucas County Board of Elections have submitted written statements on touch-screen and optical-scan equipment to Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

Mr. Blackwell will break the stalemate and choose new machines for the county.

Republicans Bernadette Noe and Sam Thurber favor touch-screen machines, while Democrats Paula Ross and Diane Brown prefer optical-scan equipment. Board members did agree on the voting equipment supplier: Diebold Elections Systems of McKinney, Texas.

The county is replacing antiquated lever machines to com-

ply with the federal Help America Vote Act, which became law last year. The new machines will be paid for mostly with money from Washington.

Today is the deadline Mr. Blackwell set for Lucas and three other counties to make their wishes known before he chooses what equipment they will receive, said James Lee, a spokesman for the secretary of state.

The board is split over questions about the security of votes cast on the touch-screen equipment and troublesome paper ballots required by the optical-scan equipment.

"I have full confidence in the Diebold touch screens," said Ms. Noe, chairman of the elections board. "I think what we saw in the March primary, which we are still trying to sort through, are the inefficiencies of the optical scan. There were problems with the printing of literally hundreds and hundreds of different versions of ballots, and then errors on the ballot that had to be reprinted. And then the difficulties on election night because of the ballots that wouldn't scan because they were incorrectly voted."

Some unreadable ballots had to be remade under the eyes of two-man teams working at elections headquarters on the night of the primary.

"Anytime someone touches a ballot, there's a security issue," Ms. Noe said.

Ms. Ross characterized the county's decision on the matter as "forced."

Ms. Ross cited a security report commissioned by Mr. Blackwell that revealed problems with machines certified by the state. Mr. Blackwell's office said he believes those security concerns will be addressed by voting equipment manufacturers in short order.