Machines Get Mixed Reviews

Most Towns Still Count Ballots By Hand

BY JAMES JARDINE Staff Writer  The Caledonian-Record
Monday November 1, 2004
  

NORTHEAST KINGDOM VERMONT
About 176 of 241 Vermont towns still tabulate votes the old-fashioned way; they count them by hand.

The reason so many towns continue hand-counting is financial; a voting machine costs the town money every year, and for a small town, it can be expensive.

This year, Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz received $17 million from the federal government as Vermont's share of funding under the federal Help America Vote Act, legislation passed by Congress. The legislation provides funding to states to upgrade voting facilities and make elections easier and more accurate.

Part of the money is used by Markowitz to pay the cost of vote tabulating machines for Vermont's municipalities. However, not every town has taken advantage of the offer of a vote tabulator paid for by the state because the annual costs of programming the machine can be expensive.

In Waterford, Town Clerk Joanne Jurentkuff said the town explored acquiring a vote tabulation machine through the state but "stopped because of the annual cost."

Once a vote tabulation machine is acquired by a town, the town must program the machine for each election cycle. An outside firm must be hired to program the machine to add all the candidates in every category. For a town like Waterford, the cost is apt to be in the thousands of dollars, according to Jurentkuff. She said for now, the town will continue to count by hand.

The town of Barnet moved to a vote tabulating machine this year and the state picked up the cost. Town Clerk William Hoar said the cost to program it for an election can be over $2,000 during a presidential election year. Because of the cost of programming, Barnet only uses the tabulator during general elections.

Hoar said the company that programs their machine charges for each race and for each name.

St. Johnsbury spent about $1,000 to program its vote tabulation machine for the primary election and will spend approximately $850 to program it for Tuesday's election.

In Concord, Town Clerk Connie Quimby said her town will continue to count votes by hand. She said the polls will close Tuesday at 7 p.m. and, with luck, the votes will be counted by 9:30 p.m., "if we get enough people to help."

Quimby said, "I would like a machine, but the cost is too high."

Markowitz said any town can participate in the program to acquire a tabulation machine with state funding, but said the state has suggested a checklist with 1,500 voters may be the breakoff point where a machine's annual cost can be more readily justified. So far, according to Kerry DeWolfe of the Secretary of State's Elections Division, only about eight towns have taken advantage of the program. She acknowledges not every town will feel the annual cost is worth it. At present, her office does not plan to begin paying the programming costs for towns.

Markowitz said the state must retain much of the $17 million as a contingency for future expenses that may confront towns. Markowitz said some towns may face very high costs meeting federal regulations which will require towns to provide accessibility for the blind and disabled. Markowitz plans to have some federal money held in reserve to help those towns meet the cost.