Vote system on agenda
County supervisors to consider upgrade

By CLAUDIA S. MELÉNDEZ
The Salinas Californian

The Monterey County Board of Supervisors will be asked Tuesday to approve a contract to the county's outdated punching card voting system in time for the November election.

The county's multiple-card paper system has been used since the mid-1970s, and has been decertified in the wake of the 2000 presidential election, when "hanging chad" on punch-card ballots put into question the validity of the vote count in Florida.

Tony Anchundo, the Monterey County registrar of voters, is proposing the county purchase 220 Edge voting units, touch-screen machines made by Sequoia Voting Systems, the county's current vendor.

Sequoia has estimated the cost of updating the system at $2.3 million, an amount that could be covered entirely by federal and state funds, Anchundo wrote in a report to the Board of Supervisors.

Monterey County will receive $600,000 to subsidize the conversion through the federal Help America Vote Act, passed in November 2002, Anchundo said.

California's Proposition 41, approved by voters in March 2002, will make available another $1.9 million to upgrade the machines, he said. The county still has to apply for those funds.

A system to assist visually impaired voters will be installed by the November 2006 election.

Anchundo predicts the county will save $125,000 for November's presidential election, because the new system would eliminate the cost of printing ballot cards and equipment storage.