Cost estimate of county elections disputed

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer

California officials dispute Riverside County's contention that it would cost $3.2 million to comply with the state's electronic voting mandate for the November presidential election, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office said Friday.

Spokesman Doug Stone in Sacramento said state officials believe the price to be far less to the county, which sued to nullify the mandate.

And even if the county is correct, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has pledged to pick up the tab, Stone said.

However, Riverside County's elections chief stands by her estimate. That $3.2 million, said Registrar of Voters Mischelle Townsend, is what it would cost to give the county's 700,000 registered voters the choice of either marking paper ballots or keying in votes on ATM-like touch-screen machines.

"With all due respect, their office has never conducted an election," Townsend said, referring to the secretary of state.

Townsend said the county's estimate is for supplies and equipment for paper voting.

The registrar provided the breakdown: $2.17 million for 7 million paper-ballot cards at 31 cents a card, to provide 700,000 10-card ballots; $731,250 for 3,250 voting booths (five booths for each polling place); $264,000 for 24 card-reader machines (three readers per remote counting center); $32,000 for 16 personal computers (two per counting center); $9,750 for 6,500 markers (10 per polling place); $5,000 for header/end cards, required for counting each precinct; and $897 for 13,000 secrecy holders (20 per polling place).

Stone declined to say precisely what the state believes the cost to Riverside County would be.

"We believe that the initial $3 million cost that has been bandied about is not accurate," he said. "However, our focus is on working with the county to ensure a smooth election."

On April 30, Shelley barred four counties, including San Diego, from holding electronic elections in the fall after logistical problems surfaced with machines in March and voter advocacy groups raised questions about whether touch screens are tamper-proof.

Shelley's mandate also decertified systems in Riverside and nine other counties that use other types of touch screens. But in the case of those counties, the secretary opened the door to continued electronic voting in the fall if they provide voter-verified paper audit trails or, alternately, follow a list of conditions, including the choice of voting by paper ballot.

"We don't believe the extra security enhancements will cost beyond $2 million for all the counties," Stone said. "However, if we are wrong, the secretary has pledged to pay for those extra security enhancements."

He said the $2 million figure is not a cap.

"There is not a question of whether we are going to pick up the tab (if costs exceed that) we still are," Stone said, adding that the state has federal Help America Vote Act funds for that purpose.

So far, six counties Orange, Santa Clara, Merced, Napa, Tehama and Shasta have complied with Shelley's directive. All have chosen the paper-ballot option.

In Merced County, where there are 100,000 registered voters, workers are gearing up for a paper-or-plastic-touch-screen election. Registrar of Voters Stephen Jones said the extra cost associated with Shelley's order is almost exclusively the paper ballots, which will cost $30,000 to $35,000.

Brett Rowley, spokesman for the Orange County registrar of voters, said his county will print an undetermined number of ballots ahead of time and prepare for more, if necessary, on Election Day.

"Should they start to run low, we will have the ability to print on demand," Rowley said. He said he could not estimate the cost for his county, which has 1.4 million registered voters.

Townsend said Riverside County does not have the ability to print on demand, so if it follows the mandate it will have to produce numerous extra ballots that likely will wind up in the trash.

"You're talking about killing millions and millions of trees unnecessarily in a state that is supposed to be environmentally friendly," Townsend said. "And having paper ballots is not going to enhance the security of the voting system."

Riverside County sued in early May to block the Shelley order, but was rebuffed by a federal judge in Los Angeles. County supervisors are scheduled to meet in a closed session Tuesday to discuss whether to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, key deadlines for the November election are rapidly approaching. Monday is opening day for the candidate-nomination filing period.

As for the voter-verified paper audit trail for electronic machines, counties have been ordered by the state to provide that by 2006. Townsend said Riverside County's upfront costs for the printers required for that are pegged at an additional $2.5 million. The county has held 29 elections on a set of 4,000 touch-screen machines that were purchased four years ago for $15 million.