08-22: Counties look at ways to pay for electronic voting devices
By MELISSA TRESNER

Forget hanging chads and butterfly ballots, the new election jargon is Direct Record Electronic systems, also known as DREs.

Each polling location in the country is required by the federal government to have at least one DRE by January 2006.

The goal of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is for disabled voters to cast their ballots unassisted.

Hart Intercivic, an Austin-based company, manufactures one type of DRE — the eSlate.

The machine allows illiterate voters or those with visual impairments to put on headphones and hear ballot ions. Controls are marked in Braille. The eSlate then confirms their votes through the headphones.

People with Parkinson's disease or limited upper-body mobility can tap or push on the machines touch pads with their feet.

Paraplegics can plug in their wheelchairs' breath-control device into the eSlate and then blow to make their ions.

"Every voter will be allowed to vote independently and privately," said Michelle Shafer, a Hart spokeswoman.

The law requires other election-related changes, such as the elimination of all punch cards and lever voting systems.

Smith County, with punch cards, is the only East Texas county that will have to meet that mandate. Most counties have optical scanning machines that tabulate ballots.

Spring Hill ISD has three lever machines passed down from Gregg County that are going to have to be replaced, said Gary Nash, director of curriculum and technology.

"They're just big, old clunky things," Nash said.

He said he's not sure yet if the district will purchase paper ballots or electronic machines or possibly rent machines from the county.

"A lot of it is going to depend on cost," he said.

The Help America Vote Act was passed in Congress after the 2000 presidential election controversy in Florida.

Along with the federal requirements come grant opportunities for counties and states. Texas has allocated $3,000 for each polling location.

Some area county officials say that's not enough to cover the costs of the machines because they have to pay for hardware, software and training.

In Harrison County, Pam Brock, the elections administrator, said the state has allocated $87,000 for 29 polling locations. Brock said the cost projections she's been given by voting machine vendors are about $249,000 for 34 machines. She said five would be kept for backups in case any of the machines malfunction or break.

Each county has to apply for the grants.

"It's going to be a very difficult situation at this time for counties to buy these machines," Brock said. "The counties are all going through financial crunches."

She said she's considered proposing to county commissioners to lease the machines rather than come up with the money all at once.

Rusk County Clerk Frank Hudson spoke to commissioners there earlier this month about the costs of DREs.

"We don't have a choice but to buy these machines," he said. "They've got us by the ears in Washington."

He said the commissioners should think about consolidating some of the polling locations so they don't have to purchase as many machines. The county has 37 polling locations.

Hudson also recommended purchasing some backup machines in case anything goes wrong.

He said he'd like to buy machines that have paper backups as well. Those run about $5,000 — $2,000 more than the average DRE.

The initial cost of setting up the machines, if the county continues with 37 locations, would be about $185,000.

Rusk County has been allocated $114,000 by the state.

Hudson was skeptical that the county would actually receive the money, saying "We'll get $3,000 per box if and when we get it."

Upshur County Commissioner Joey Orms, who attended a conference in Austin last week where DREs were the topic, also was unsure that the government would come up with the money.

"Nothing is set in stone," Orms said.

Orms said some counties in the state have already converted to DREs, but Upshur County, with only an $11 million budget, is going to have to take things slower.

He said the commissioners court in Upshur County hasn't discussed the issue, but he personally would like to wait until early next year to buy the machines. He said he hoped that there would be more certified machines to choose from, which would drive the price down. There are now five machines certified by the state .

"We can't wait too long because we have to train people how to use them," Orms said.

Helen Lloyd, the deputy voter registrar in Panola County, said she also would like to wait and see if grants are going to be available before deciding which machines to purchase for the county's 21 polling locations.

Harrison County will be the site of a vendor showing on Sept. 24 where officials from 10 East Texas counties, including Gregg, Smith, Upshur, Marion and Rusk, can see demonstrations of each of the five certified DREs.