Supervisors opt to buy optical scan voting system

By JOEL HOOD
BEE STAFF WRITER

Last Updated: July 28, 2004, 06:23:21 AM PDT

After a lengthy discussion Tuesday aimed at calming fears over voter fraud and election tampering, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors agreed to buy an electronic voting system.

The new system, similar to those leased to the county for the March, October and November elections in 2003, electronically records marks made on paper ballots to tabulate vote totals. It will be used in November.

That the system, known as optical scan, provides a paper trail after votes are collected electronically was important in securing approval from the county's 14-member Voter Modernization Panel, said Lee Lun-drigan, county clerk-recorder.

Other modern voting equipment, such as touch-screen systems formerly in use in San Joaquin, Kern and Solano counties, do not provide paper backup, which is essential to ensure the votes are counted accurately, Lundrigan said.

"Touch-screen technology requires a belief that the system is adding up the votes correctly," she said. "A person needs to be able to walk up (to a polling place) and know their vote counts. If there is any question, the system is failing them."

In the aftermath of the Florida punch-card fiasco that clouded the 2000 presidential election, the federal government set aside money to pay for an overhaul and modernization of the nation's voting systems. The punch-card-style ballot, in use in Stanislaus County for 20 years, was deemed unreliable.

But new electronic systems have had problems, too, Supervisor Pat Paul said in casting the lone "no" vote in a 4-1 decision Tuesday.

"We need more information," Paul said. "I don't think we can rush right into this. I'm concerned about fraud."

Paul was alluding to concerns raised by two county residents, who questioned whether electronic voting systems were a more secure alternative to punch-card ballots.

"Glitches happen with computers, and I think that should be a concern for this board," said Jody Holder, a resident of southern Stanislaus County.

Holder criticized Omaha, Neb.- based Elections Systems & Software the manufacturer of the system Stanislaus County plans to buy for failing to address voting errors by its machines including one in Stanislaus County in 1999.

A computer programming error that year resulted in a miscount of votes in Modesto on three state propositions and three city measures.

The result of the error was that a binding-arbitration measure championed by police and fire unions appeared to have lost badly when it actually had won.

A civil grand jury found that Elections Systems & Software did not adequately test the machines before the election.

Lundrigan told the board that California has since changed its election requirements for greater accuracy. The law now requires a hand count of 1 percent of all ballots cast in each voting district. Those results, Lun-drigan said, will be compared with those from the optical scan system to ensure the tabulation is correct.

An important feature of the optical scan system, according to an Elections Systems & Software spokesman who addressed the board, is its ease of use for people with disabilities.

One of the two models unveiled Tuesday has a touch screen to assist the deaf, voice communication to assist the blind, and software to help people without hands or arms record their votes in privacy.

It also offers instructions in Spanish. That machine is used solely to mark the paper ballot and eliminates the need to ask poll workers for assistance, said Louis Dedier of Election Systems & Software.

Once the ballots are marked, they are submitted for tabulation the same as other ballots, he said.

Stanislaus County will purchase the voting system with a combination of federal and state dollars.

The new voting equipment will be displayed Friday through Aug. 8 at the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock. The elections office booth will be open 5 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.