Commissioners formally approve voting machines
By Nick Schneider, STAFF WRITER   Linton Daily Citizen   17 November 2004

The Greene County Commissioners formally approved the purchase of a new electronic voting machine system Tuesday morning.

The commissioners agreed to buy 62 MicroVote Infinity Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) devices at a cost of $306,000 $256,000 for the actual machines, reader devices and related equipment; and $50,000 for a four-year election cycle of staffing support running through the 2008 presidential election.

The commissioners were unanimous in moving forward with the purchase.

In making the motion, commissioner Warren Bartlett said, "We've talked about it for a long time."

Greene County Clerk Tom Franklin, who recommended the MicroVote system, told the commissioners, "We've all been involved in this for several years trying to upgrade our voting machines and I think we are finally at the point where we are ready to do something.

"One of the strong suits of MicroVote is that it's not computer-based so the people who are concerned that somebody can hack into it someway that cannot happen. These have an internal memory, but will not be online in anyway to where somebody could hack into it. They have to some extent a paper trail. Every stroke hit on that machine can be reproduced. Every ballot can be reproduced," he said.

Franklin believes the entire purchase price will be reimbursed by the Indiana State Election Commission.

The county is "guaranteed" reimbursement from the Federal Election Commission of $102,144 based on an allocation of $3,192 for each of the counties 32 precincts. The State of Indiana through the Secretary of State's office has allocated the bulk of its HAVA grant monies for the replacement of aging voting equipment.

Greene County is also eligible for up to $8,000 per precinct in Title III money and may be eligible to receive an additional $4,808 per precinct. That money combined with a $50,000 staff support allotment that was approved in lieu of a computer software allotment brings the total reimbursement to $306,000 and makes up the difference for the total purchase price, according to Franklin.

Steve Shamo, representing MicroVote General Corporation of Indianapolis, demonstrated the new voting unit to the clerk, auditor, three county council members and members of the Greene County Election Board in October.

MicroVote's Infinity voting panel is a Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) device that incorporates an LCD panel to display the ballot, individual buttons for operator control and voter ion. It uses Smart Card technology for activation, data collection/transport, and is capable of operation off batteries in the event of a power failure.

The units are lightweight weighing less than six pounds apiece and measuring 16 1/2 inches high by 13 inches high.

That's a stark contrast to the old lever type machines that weigh more than 800 pounds apiece and require a large amount of rented storage space.

MicroVote is an Indiana-based company that has its system used in more than 40 Hoosier counties including Monroe, Daviess, Sullivan, Knox and Lawrence in the immediate surrounding area.

The system meets current Federal Election Commission Voting System Standards for reliability, accuracy, performance and testing standards that allows voters with disabilities to vote unassisted on the same device as capable and sighted voters. It utilizes an audio ballot capability that allows visually impaired and physically disabled to easily cast their ballots in private through the use of headphones.

Shamo presented figures that show that Greene County spends more than $90,000 every four years to maintain its lever voting system in costs for setting up, storage, delivery, parts and repair.

More than $52 million is available in the state's pool of grant funds.

"The thing you do not want to do is spend any county money on this equipment," Shamo stressed to the county officials.

In order to qualify for the first round of grant funds the county needs to be "under contract" with a vendor by Dec. 31.

"I think if we get all of our ducks in a row we can have our grant application in before the end of the year and hopefully have our money here where we don't have to borrow any," he said. "The (county) council has worked real hard with us also and come up with some ways we think we can finance this and get the additional appropriation and actually have the grant money here before we have to do anything with that appropriation," Franklin added.

The clerk said J & J Salvage Company, located near Worthington, will present a bid for removal and the scraping of the old lever-type machines in the very near future.

Franklin stressed that MicroVote's contract calls for the company to train local election workers on the use of the new machines.

Following the suggestion of commissioner's president Tom Britton, Franklin said he will conduct an extensive public educational program on the operation of the new machines.

"My intent is to have these available and have a day at each township fire station, each senior citizen center, at Wal-Mart, and every festival in the county and in virtually every town in the county at some time in the next year and try to get these and set them up and demonstrate them," Franklin stated. "These are very simple systems. They are not any scarier than the lever machines are."

He added, "I think they are going to be a good thing if people will get a chance to look at them and see that there isn't anything there to be afraid of."