State eyes voting machine gripes

By MARSHA SHULER
mshuler@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau

State elections officials are preparing to spend $46 million to buy new voting machines for 50 of the state's 64 parishes.

Louisiana will stick with proven technology as it replaces 4,000 to 5,000 voting machines statewide, First Assistant Secretary of State Al Ater said Monday.

Ater said state elections officials are aware of problems other states are experiencing with new electronic voting machines and the national furor over the potential for ballot tampering.

"We have always had a cautious approach to the touch-screen machines," Ater said. "There have been consistent problems around the nation with them.

"Put aside the software problems and the possibility of hacking into them. All the companies (that sell them) are advising us, by their own admission, that the life expectancy is seven to 10 years," Ater said.

"There are many other machines that meet federal requirements with life expectancies considerably longer," Ater said.

The state has $46 million to $47 million from the federal government to make elections upgrades, and it needs to use the money well, Ater said.

Louisiana must upgrade its voting machines to federal standards.

Today, 50 parishes use old-style lever machines that do not meet federal regulations.

Fourteen parishes meet the new federal standards. Two of those parishes, Ascension and Tangipahoa, have the new touch-screen voting machines. Elections officials in both parishes reported glitches with the machinery.

Ater said elections officials will start inviting companies to preview their machines around the state between August and November as the ion process begins. He said local elections officials as well as the public and press will be invited to events.

Elections officials hope to have a contract awarded by January and by July have the machines in place everywhere and ready to go for elections next year, Ater said.

A coalition of civil-rights groups and computer security experts issued a report last month saying that "quick fixes" are needed if the touch-screen machines are to be used in the Nov. 2 presidential election. Among the suggestions are an independent security review of machines and their software and procedures for monitoring problems.

Election analysts have also noted so many malfunctions that critics have called for paper trails as a check that ballots are counted correctly.

In California, critics of electronic voting are suing Diebold Inc. under a whistle-blower law, alleging that the company's shoddy balloting equipment exposed state elections to hackers and software bugs.