Election chief tries to restore faith in Dade voting system

Miami-Dade's election chief said voting equipment problems cited in her letter to the manufacturer won't affect fall elections.

BY CHARLES RABIN

Despite her critical letter last month to the company that manufactures Miami-Dade's touch-screen voting equipment, County Election Supervisor Constance Kaplan on Tuesday defended the machines and said flaws found so far will not affect upcoming elections.

''The issues we've raised recently are administrative,'' Kaplan said. ``They don't impact voters, and they don't impact tabulations. We should be ok.''

Kaplan's comments came the same day that Secretary of State Glenda Hood announced that Florida has certified new software designed to fix another problem with the equipment: a glitch that causes the machine to show the wrong serial numbers when its batteries run low.

''The new system may be installed and used immediately,'' the elections division said in a statement.

Kaplan sought to reassure county commissioners about the equipment manufactured by Election Systems & Services, the target of criticism since the first public reports of the audit problem in May.

Miami-Dade, Broward and nine other counties use the equipment.

A Herald review of internal election department documents last week found references to other flaws that had not previously been made public.

SEVERAL PROBLEMS

In a June 3 letter to ES&S, Kaplan asked that these problems be solved ``expeditiously'':

• The central database in the machines used to add up votes could not hold all the data at once, requiring what she called a ''labor intensive and costly'' solution that could complicate a recount in a close race.

• The optical scanners used to read absentee ballots have problems when information is merged from the three machines the county uses.

• The county could potentially mix up votes if it were to try to use phone lines to transmit data from the polling places to the election center, which it doesn't plan to do.

But Tuesday, Kaplan said the three problems she cited in the letter would not affect the outcome of any upcoming election.

Kaplan told commissioners:

• The votes would be added up in batches eliminating any chance of a mistake if they were all added up at once.

• The optical scanners are being ``serviced.''

• Votes will not be transmitted through phone lines, but will be taken to headquarters before being counted.

Kaplan said a Herald report on her letter last week was ''misleading,'' and County Commissioners Jose ''Pepe'' Diaz and Rebeca Sosa criticized the paper's coverage.

But Commissioner Betty Ferguson, chairwoman of the elections committee, said she remained concerned.

''We can't pretend and shouldn't pretend we don't have a problem,'' she said. ``We have a problem. I wish we had 10,000 more workers, a lot more money, and more time.

``We're running out of time. Fortunately, we're committed, whatever it costs to get fixed. We're moving forward as best we can.''

PLAN FOR LAWSUIT

Also Tuesday, Kaplan and Assistant County Attorney Murray Greenberg addressed Miami's plan to file suit against the county if more early voting sites were not opened.

Kaplan said the law only allows for early voting sites in libraries or at City Halls. Right now, Kaplan said, there are three sites for Miami one site in each county commission district within city limits.

Sosa asked for more, wanting to be assured everyone would be able to vote.

Greenberg said the county was following the law, and that trying to find the resources for Miami-Dade or any large urban center to open dozens of early voting centers was nearly impossible. Then he backed Kaplan.

``It's got to be her decision, my friends. That's the way it has got to be or we are going to have absolute chaos.''