Montgomery County to buy 21 voting machines

The electronic machines will be placed in the polling sites so voters can gain some familiarity with them.

By Greg Esposito  14 September 2004

The New River Valley Current
 
CHRISTIANSBURG - The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors agreed Monday night to buy 21 electronic voting machines that the county registrar hopes to have ready for voters to sample in November.

The decision was a compromise between the electoral board's request for 110 WINvote touch-screen machines and residents' pleas to hold off on any purchases to see the effects of new legislation and technological advances. Supervisors approved the purchase by a 5-1 vote Monday, about six weeks after the county's electoral board recommended the machines. The issue has been a controversial topic since that meeting, when the electoral board recommended the machines despite announcing that they would just discuss options and take no action. Several residents who showed up at the meeting to oppose any purchases of new machines returned to a public hearing at the board of supervisors in late August. Registrar Randy Wertz and Dean Dowdy, chairman of the electoral board, spoke in favor of the machines at the public hearing.

The 2002 Help America Vote Act requires localities to have new electronic voting machines in place by 2006. Supervisors balked at the idea of buying 110 machines in August. The county has $412,000 in federal funds to replace its 84 mechanical voting machines. Each machine costs about $3,000. At the August public hearing Supervisor Steve Spradlin suggested the compromise in which the board would buy 21 machines to be available at each of the 21 voting districts in Montgomery County.

"Having worked with computers for 30 years, I know how easy they can be to manipulate," Supervisor John Muffo said Monday. "But at the same time we have a group of people here trying to do their job. ... We need to at least take a baby step forward."

The same two groups showed up Monday to argue the issue as six residents told the board about instances throughout the country where electronic machines caused problems on Election Day and pointed out that the General Assembly is discussing the topic in a subcommittee. At issue is the question of reliability of machines that don't print out paper receipts to voters. None of the six machines approved by the state print such receipts, but the board was concerned the General Assembly could change state standards for the machines and require the receipts. The WINvote machine could be adapted to print receipts, Wertz said.

Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, was in the audience Monday. Supervisor Mary Biggs, who voted against the resolution, asked him to clarify the General Assembly's opinion.

"There are concerns that local governments probably ought to wait until the subcommittee of the House comes back in December with its recommendations," Nutter said.

Wertz said familiarizing the public with the machines as early as possible is critical. He hopes to have them for residents to sample in November, but said it could be 90 days before the county gets them. He said it was nice that the county committed to the smaller purchase, but he is worried about how effective it will be to familiarize residents and staff on the machines if the county is not fully committed to them.

"They've got to feel confident that these are the machines they will be using," he said.