WILLIAMSON COUNTY SWITCHING TO VOTING MACHINES

BY JOHN D. HOMAN
THE SOUTHERN
MARION Williamson County Clerk Saundra Jent is opting for Opti-Scan.

After nearly a quarter century of punch ballot voting, Jent said county voters can expect a change this fall for the general election.

"It's similar to a paper ballot. The voter fills in ovals beside a candidate's name instead of punching a hole," Jent said. "The voter then s the ballot in the box instead of the election judge. If the voter has overvoted, the voter will immediately be notified by the machine."

Jent said Opti-Scan is not necessarily any more accurate, but is certainly more user-friendly.

"Instead of pulling out the flap of the envelope with punch ballots for a write-in candidate, there will be blanks on the new ballots with an oval beside it for write-in votes," Jent said. "And the new ballots will be less intimidating to senior citizen voters, as well as more efficient for absentee voters."

Jent said she became familiar with Opti-Scan 10 years ago during a trip to Nebraska and liked the system, but cost factors prohibited the county from changing.

"Dave Dobill (Franklin County clerk) and Lavella Craddock (Hamilton County clerk) both rave about it and I respect their input," Jent said. "They've told me how well people like the system."

When the federal government agreed to pay the majority of the cost for each machine, Jent said the opportunity was too good to pass.

"Once we sign the contract with our supplier, the State Board of Elections will cut us a check for over $3,000 per machine. The county will pay the remainder, or somewhere close to $80,000 for 50 new machines."

Jent said there will actually be fewer Opti-Scan machines than the punch ballot machines. "We're going from 65 to 50, but will consolidate some of our voting precincts," she said.

Jent said she will begin giving demonstrations with the voting machines in June.

Dobill said the Opti-Scan system has been in place in Franklin County for four years.

"I really like it," Dobill said. "I know the voters like it, too, and so do the election judges. It's just a better system. If there is a blank ballot submitted, or if someone has accidentally overvoted, for example, that ballot is automatically rejected on the spot when it is scanned by the computer. Voters can then get a new ballot, which makes them very happy."

Jackson County Clerk Larry Reinhardt said it won't be long before all of Illinois switches to Opti-Scan for voting.

"We're going to it next year," he said. "I'm not as brave as Saundra to put it in place before a presidential election."

Reinhardt said Opti-Scan is cost-effective now that the government is kicking in nearly $3,300 per unit per precinct.

"From what I have seen and heard, Opti-Scan offers us a little more control in terms of ballot production. We will be able to produce these ballots in house, which will make for much less waste. And our mailing cost will go down dramatically with absentee ballots."

Reinhardt said it typically costs the county about $2 per mailed absentee ballot. The new ballot will be confined to two pages and can be mailed for at least half the cost. He said that because the government will pay for a new machine at each precinct, the county's cost will be less because some precincts will be consolidated.

"We're going from 64 to 61 precincts and down to 48 polling places," Reinhardt said. "Yet we'll still get funding for all 64 precincts. That will soften the blow to taxpayers."