E-voting may get mail-in backup
Friday, July 23, 2004
By KAREN AYRES
Staff Writer

Voters who are worried that their ballots won't be counted accurately on Mercer County's new electronic voting machines would be allowed to file absentee ballots in the November election under a proposal made public yesterday by the county administration.

Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes submitted a letter to the state Attorney General's office late yesterday to ask the state to expand the absentee ballot criteria so that people who have no confidence in the new machines could be sure their votes are counted.

"We should try to do what we can to add to the security of the voting process," Hughes said. "It is the central function of our democracy." 
 The letter was filed shortly before an official from Sequoia Voting Systems, the county's voting machine manufacturer, said last night at a crowded freeholder meeting that his company won't be able to produce a voter-verified paper trail for the county's machines for at least another year.

Activists on a national and local level have called for a voter-verified system over the past couple of years to help make sure all the votes are counted.

TrueMajority.org, a national group calling for voter paper trails nationwide, took out radio ads on New Jersey 101.5 FM and 1260 WBUD AM yesterday calling for residents to demand such a system from Hughes.

"Our goal was to move from verbal support to getting anyone who wanted to the chance to vote on a paper ballot," said Matt Holland, one of the group's organizers.

The group, which was founded by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's, changed its ads scheduled to run today to commend Hughes for his action after members received a copy of Hughes' letter to Attorney General Peter Harvey, Holland said.

Hughes and the freeholder board decided months ago to spend $500,000 on a voter-verified paper trail for the Sequoia machines, which cost $3.9 million, but the system has been unavailable.

Howard Cramer, a Sequoia vice president, said last night his company hopes to submit a new paper trail program for federal review in April or May.

Cramer said he expected it would be approved and ready to go by next summer or fall, but he could not guarantee the process would be done in time for the general election in 2005.

"I'm confident we'll have the technology," Cramer said. "I'm confident we'll have it as soon as we can. It's in our best interest."

Sequoia officials contend their machines have not had any tabulation problems over the years and are completely secure, citing several security checks built into the system.

But voting activists across the country have continued to question the whole voting process. Last night, several area residents pointed to electronic voting machine problems in other locations and called for the county to push for the voter-verified system.

The freeholders last night endorsed Hughes' plan to expand absentee voting, saying they were very disappointed the system won't be ready for the presidential contest in November.

"We're just going to have to hope everything works out in this very important election," Freeholder Ann Cannon said.

Chuck Davis, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said yesterday no other county has requested that the state change the law to allow people who are uncomfortable with the new system to file an absentee ballot.

"We really can't comment on the request until we see it," he said.

Right now, Davis said, state law allows people to file an absentee ballot if they are out of state, ill, working during polling hours, away at college or observing a religious holiday.

Dominic Magnolo, chairman of the county's election board, said last night a change to the absentee system might actually cause more counting problems because the county often ends up voiding some absentee ballots because of problems verifying signatures.

"You may be excluding more voters from having their votes counted," Magnolo said.