State gets $16M to replace punch cards voting system
By Mark Thiessen, Associated Press   23 December 2004
SALT LAKE CITY ? Utah needs to replace its outdated punch card voting system within 18 months, and the federal government has given the state a financial boost to get it done.

Lt. Gov. Gayle McKeachnie on Wednesday announced a $16 million gift from the United States Election Assistance Committee to meet federally mandated reforms.

Utah is currently one of five states still using punch card voting systems, made infamous in the chaotic Florida presidential count in 2000. In 2002, the federal Help America Vote Act was passed to help states fund replacement of the outdated systems.

Punch cards are used in 23 of Utah's 29 counties, while the remaining counties use optical scan and paper voting systems.

The federal gift brings the state to just short of its $28 million goal to meet reforms. The account now stands at $25 million, and McKeachnie said the federal government could still come through with the remaining $3 million.

If it doesn't, it won't affect getting the voting changes in place by the next federal election in Utah, which is June 2006. Instead, the cut would be made from any help the state was planning to give counties down the road as their populations grow and they need more voting machines.

"We have $25 million, and hope that Congress will come through with more on the way," said state elections director Amy Naccarato. If not, it likely will be up to the counties to find funding for additional purchases.

The biggest chunk of the state's fund, about $20.5 million, will go for the purchase of new voting machines.

The goal, Naccarato said Wednesday, is to have one voting machine for every 151 voters in the state, a number McKeachnie figures will help cut down the wait for people voting during peak hours on election days, from 5-8 p.m.

Also helping shorten long lines in the November election was no-excuse absentee voting. Naccarato said her office doesn't yet have figures of how many people took advantage of it, but she estimated it to be about 7 or 8% of all votes cast. That would be up from a normal 2 or 3% of voters who cast ballots absentee.

The state has received two bids for its new voting machines, from Diebold and Election Systems & Software. Both companies were to have been in Salt Lake City last week to provide demonstrations of their machines, and McKeachnie said purchase orders could have been ready by next month for the new equipment.

But McKeachnie canceled that demonstration at the request of his incoming replacement, Lt. Gov.-elect Gary Herbert.

"We won't be here, he will be here," McKeachnie said. "We have postponed that so he can get on board, learn about it and would ultimately then be involved with the committee about making the decision about what we spend the money on.

"He's going to have to pull the trigger to spend it as one of his first duties," he said.

The state will use the remaining $4.5 million of its fund to train election workers, judges and voters on how to use the new computerized equipment, to hire programming and maintenance support and to develop a statewide voter registration database.