Don't Expect To Find Electronic Voting Machines
Election officials want to see results before outfitting state polling places

 
By TED MANN
Day Staff Writer
Published on 10/30/2004

If you're not a born lever puller, you may be among those hoping to find an electronic voting machine waiting for you Tuesday morning at the polls.

You won't.

One year after eight Connecticut towns, including Griswold, tried out the new machines in local elections, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is waiting to see how elections proceed in other parts of the country this fall before spending as much as $5 million to outfit each polling place in the state with new electronic machines.

According to the federal Help America Vote Act, passed by Congress after the vote-counting fiasco in Florida in 2000, each state must maintain at least one electronic machine in every polling place by 2006, said Larry Perosino, a spokesman for Bysiewicz.

The state received $30 million in federal funding to enact the necessary changes, and expects to spend around $5 million to place the new machines in about 750 facilities statewide.

Last year's trial, which was conducted on loaned equipment from the various companies that may vie for a state contract, was a success, Perosino said. Still, Bysiewicz wants to wait until the outcome of this year's elections, when he said as many as one third of American voters could cast their votes on similar electronic machines, before purchasing any for the state.

“First the secretary wants to see how the rest of the nation does,” Perosino said.

The machines are by no means universally popular.

Some in the state legislature, including House Minority Leader Robert Ward, R-North Branford, have warned that the devices will provide insufficient security against tampering and fraud.

There will be time to argue the merits of the machines, supporters concede, and how well they serve other states will go a long way in determining how they are put to use in Connecticut.

“We haven't spent a dime on electronic machines, and we certainly want to see how it goes this year before we make our next move,” Perosino said.