County Commissioners See Demonstrations Of Voting Machines From Two Companies
BY DAVID SLONE, Times-Union Staff Writer   01 December 2004

Two companies demonstrated their voting machines Tuesday to the Kosciusko County commissioners.

After the presentations were over, the commissioners unanimously voted MicroVote General Corp., Indianapolis, as their first choice to work with on purchasing new voting equipment. If the county and MicroVote cannot come to an agreement, the commissioners will approach their second choice, Voting Technologies International, Milwaukee, Wis.

Clerk of the Circuit Court Sharon Christner will meet with MicroVote and present cost estimates to the commissioners Dec. 28. The commissioners hope to make their recommendation on the purchase to the county council at the council?s Jan. 13 meeting.

The Help America Vote Act requires that by Jan. 1, 2006, new voting machines must be in place nationwide, with no more punch card or lever systems. If the county follows proper procedure, the federal government will reimburse the county for the purchase of the equipment up to approximately $600,000.

Ron Truex, middle district county commissioner, said the county has looked into new voting machines for the past several months. They narrowed it down to two, MicroVote and Voting Technologies, to make presentations Tuesday so the commissioners could make a recommendation to the county council.

Voting Technologies made their presentation first. It is a relatively new company formed shortly after the 2000 presidential election. Their touch-screen machines are Indiana-certified and work much like a microwave or an ATM, according to Bill Benning, director of sales.

?We do a lot of outreach to help the voters familiarize themselves with voting,? said Benning.

Each voter is given an ID ticket and personal identification number to enter when they vote. The PIN can be used only once. There is a lot of security installed in the computers and the software is similar to the software used by NASA and the military.

Steve Shamo, customer service and sales with MicroVote, began his presentation by saying 26 counties in Indiana used MicroVote prior to the 2000 election and more counties are getting on board. The company?s goal is to provide the lowest cost to the county per voter with the highest voter accuracy.

The MicroVote system unit is five pounds and is not a touch-screen system. Shamo said that over the past 20 years, the company has learned to keep the system as simple as possible.

?It is a durable unit,? he said. ?It has no moveable parts whatsoever.?

The key is not to have the voters do anything but make their ions.

A poll worker has to call up the ballot for each and every voter. The units don?t have a hard drive, but are operated on flash card memory.

Nearby counties that use MicroVote include Whitley, Wells, Wabash and Marshall.

Truex said, ?There is a difference of cost? between the two companies, but the county may be able to negotiate a lower price on the machines once a company knows the county is serious about purchasing the equipment.