Montogomery Electoral Board to discuss electronic voting machines

The Montgomery County Electoral Board has already examined four vendors and their equipment.

By Daniel Pulliam
 981-3341
The New River Current
The merits of electronic voting machines examined by the Montgomery County Electoral Board will be discussed in a public meeting tonight, with some claiming that the machines being considered have proved faulty in past elections.

Board chairman Dean Dowdy said the purpose of the meeting is to talk about the four machines scrutinized by the board over the last year. A decision on which machine to buy will likely come before the November election.

The board is considering the following four vendors and their electronic voting equipment chosen from a list of six machines certified by the Virginia State Board of Elections:

Advanced Voting Solutions (WINvote)

Election Systems and Software (iVotronic)

Sequoia Voting Systems (AVC Edge)

UniLect Corporation (Patriot)

Tom Joy, co-chairman of a group called the Virginians for Verified Voting, an organization affiliated with the national organization VotersUnite!, said three of the four vendors have had problems in the past.

Except for the UniLect's Patriot, machine, the VotersUnite! Web site lists instances around the world where these machines have had problems in elections.

Dowdy responded by saying the Internet is inundated with information that is often "extremely unqualified and unreferenced."

None of the machines considered by the board produces a "voter-verified paper trail," and this worries not only Virginians for Verified Voting, but also the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County.

Mary Houska, president of the League, said electronic voting machines need a way to verify for voters whom they voted for after they finish punching buttons on a computer screen.

"We would oppose a machine that does not have a way to check on the machine," Houska said.

The 2002 Help America Vote Act requires all precincts in the United States to replace punch card and lever voting machines by Jan. 1, 2006, with the stipulation that every precinct has a machine that allows a person with a wide range of disabilities to vote without assistance. Electronic voting machines with touch screens and audio balloting are often seen as the best way of providing unassisted voting to the disabled.

Montgomery County has been allotted $412,000 to purchase new machines.

The new machines would first be used in the June 2005 Republican primary. But Montgomery County Registrar Randy Wertz said he hopes the board will make a decision on what they will use to replace the 1930s lever machines by the November election. He would like to have some on display during a high-turnout election.

Carl McDaniels, a retired Virginia Tech professor and a member of the League of Women Voters, said he sees no reason to rush into the voting machine purchase.

"With what I would consider controversy swirling about this, there is no reason to rush out and buy these machines," McDaniels said. "The state should declare a moratorium on purchasing until January when they can find technological advances in the machines that are available."