Touch-screen voting coming to Mineral County
By MARLA PISCIOTTA Mineral News-Tribune Staff Writer  29 January 2005
 

State-of-the-art "touch screen" voting machines will be in Mineral County by October 2, according to Sonny Alt, Clerk of Mineral County Commission. Alt and deputy clerk Lauren Ellifritz traveled to Flatwoods on Thursday for training and information gathering at a "user meeting."

"The state will choose one of two machines being offered by Election Systems & Software," Alt said. Thirty-five units of whatever machine is chosen will be in Mineral County by Oct. 2. The machines cost $4,000 each and are being funded by the federal government.

Casto & Harris, the largest statewide voting programmer in the world, will provide printing materials such as ballot orders and supplies.

According to requirements set forth by the federal government, section 301, voting systems standards, the new voting systems will permit the voter to verify (in a private and independent manner) the votes ed by the voter on the ballot before the ballot is cast and counted.

The new machines will provide the voter to make changes or correct any error before the ballot is cast and counted. They will offer headphone systems to enable those visually impaired to vote in privacy. Alt said the machine will talk through the headphone and the impaired will be able to vote on the screen the same as anyone without a visual problem. Weighing only about 40 pounds, the machines can be set on a table for those confined to a wheel chair.
  

"They will elimate over-voting, minimize under-voting and support write-in candidates," Alt said.

Although the federal government has specific guidelines, West Virginia also has their own guidelines to abide by as well.

"(The state) calls for a paper trail. The county retains the paper document, the voter does not get a copy," said Ellifritz. The machine will record on paper every action the terminal logs, including any changes made while voting. "This is in case there is the need for a recount of votes," she added.

Ultimately the state will decide exactly what machine will be used and when they arrive in October. Alt, Ellifritz, and an instructor from the systems will teach the poll workers how to operate the machines. In addition they will have about six months to teach the Mineral County voters how to operate them as well.

"We will have multiple sessions of instructions in every precinct," Alt said.

Mineral County has a voting population of 17,000. This past election a little over 11,000 people voted. All 2,000 precincts in West Virginia will receive the new machines

"We are the first state going to touch screen state-wide," Alt said. He added the goal is to be the model for all states nationwide by 2010.

The machines will be ready for use in the primary election of 2006. They will not be used if a special levy election is held in the interim