Voting machine debate means county may have to wait

By TOM GIAMBRONI

4/2/2004

LISBON — The on-again, off-again move to touch-screen voting in Columbiana County may be off again, at least for this year.
County Board of Elections Director John Payne said the ongoing hearings being held by the state legislature probably will delay the switch to touch-screen voting until the 2005 primary election at the earliest.
“I just don’t know where it’s heading, but I have a strong suspicion we won’t be using” the new system come the Nov. 2 general election, he advised the board during Thursday’s meeting.
The board in January ed Diebold Election Systems as the vendor it wanted to provide the new touch-screen video voting system to replace the current punch-card system.
The move to replace punch-card systems with some form of video voting is a result of federal legislation passed by Congress following the 2000 presidential election debacle in several Florida counties.
Ohio has until 2006 to make the switch, and Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has been pushing for all 88 counties to change before then. He ordered the 69 Ohio counties still using punch-card ballots to choose a video machine vendor by mid-January.
Payne said when the board chose Diebold three months ago it was with the expectation the new system would be ready for the November election. But since then, elected officials and others have raised concerns over the security of these new systems and whether they are completely tamper-proof. As a result, the state legislature has been holding hearings to discuss security issues.
One of the recurring arguments has been the need for each voting machine to be able to generate a paper trail — a printed ballot — that could serve as a backup to verify how each person voted.
Payne said if elections officials require a printed ballot also be produced by the touch-screen machines it will take time to develop uniform standards, since none exist.
Congress has provided federal money for counties to make the change, and the state controlling board is awaiting authorization before releasing the funding. Payne said another month delay or so won’t leave them enough time to educate voters on how to use the new machines in time for the November election.
“I’m not going to rush anything,” he said.