Bruce Davidson: Will paper ballots make a comeback?

Web Posted: 12/12/2004 12:00 AM CST

San Antonio Express-News

Bexar County's $7.5 million electronic voting equipment performed without major problems in last month's presidential election, but the county could return to optical-scan paper ballots in the future.

The potential for such a stunning reversal stems from the continuing push for a paper trail that can be audited in a recount.

Fears about possible manipulation of electronic voting equipment have spawned calls for a paper trail wherever touch-screen voting is used.

Bexar County is no exception, despite assurances from local officials that the ES&S system used in San Antonio has adequate security measures.

"There's always going to be pressure on that. The state has to make the decision," County Judge Nelson Wolff said last week. "If they do require a paper trail, we may go back to the old system."

Wolff emphasized that he wasn't joking.

Pulling off a successful election with 2,400 electronic machines is tough enough, the county judge said. Adding printers to each machine could make electronic elections so onerous that paper ballots, in Wolff's view, may be preferable.

An active group of citizens is not satisfied with assurances that electronic machines are secure, and they want a paper trail. Their energy will be directed toward Austin next year.

Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, has prefiled a bill that would require electronic voting equipment to create a paper record of each voter's choices.

Alyssa Burgin, spokeswoman for a San Antonio-based group called Citizens for Ethical Government, said, "As soon as the Legislature begins in January, we're going to start lobbying."

Burgin's group has joined forces with others from around the state. She said incidents in other states in last month's election made it clear that a paper trail is necessary.

Bexar County Democratic Chairman Rudy Casias said he is on board with the effort to get a paper trail, calling it "a necessary step."

"We already have it in all of the grocery stores. The printer connection is very doable," Casias said.

Bexar GOP Chairman Richard Langlois takes a different view. "I've never been convinced that their arguments merit anything," he said of the paper trail proponents.

Paper trail advocates hope to meet with Secretary of State-designate Roger Williams "as soon as he is ensconced in office," Burgin said.

Williams' staff must certify any new election equipment introduced in the state before counties can use it.

"Right now there are not any machines that have been certified in Texas to do the paper trail," said Bill Kenyon, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

In this year's election, Nevada became the first state to incorporate printed ballots with electronic voting machines.

Bexar County Commissioner Paul Elizondo is not convinced a paper trail is necessary, but he said, "I get the feeling that the handwriting is on the wall all over the nation and the public officials will have to capitulate."

Elizondo said the amount of public pressure would dictate whether changes are made.

In Bexar County, adding printers to the electronic voting machines will cost an estimated $3 million, Elizondo said.

The commissioner said printed copies of people's votes could threaten ballot secrecy. He also noted that Bexar's voting machines aren't on the Internet and that each machine has independent internal memories.

A pragmatic political veteran, Elizondo said he opposes the change "until it's proven to really be a necessity. Politically, it may become a necessity."

The high-tech dream of electronic voting may soon be an old-fashioned nightmare for election officials.