Bill would grandfather Lake:
Lake County and six other counties would be able to continue to use electronic voting machines
News-Herald. February 24, 2005. By John Arthur Hutchison, Staff Writer

State Sen. Tim Grendell introduced legislation Wednesday that would grandfather Lake County and six other counties so that they can continue to use electronic voting machines.

Grendell, R-Chester Township, introduced Senate Bill 77 after Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell in January directed counties to choose a vendor for precinct-count optical scan voting systems by Feb. 9.

Lake County's Elections Board did not make a vendor ion and instead has been working with state lawmakers on a legislative solution that would enable voters to continue using the electronic voting machines.

Grendell said the legislation would also affect Auglaize, Franklin, Knox, Mahoning, Pickaway and Ross counties.

Grendell, who has inspected Lake County's machines, said he is convinced there is no need for the county to change to an optical scan system.

"I'm satisfied that the current system is efficient and maintains the integrity of the vote," Grendell said. "And I see no reason to have to waste taxpayers' money and implement a new system when the current system is working."

Lake County Elections Board Director Janet F. Clair was pleased the legislation was proposed.

"We are pretty excited about the prospect of hopefully being grandfathered in," Clair said.

In 1999, Lake County paid $3 million for its electronic voting machines. Of that figure, $800,000 remains to be paid.

Senate Bill 77 would change state law to permit electronic voting machines that were certified for use in Ohio on Jan. 1 to continue to be used if they are modified to meet the requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and, when "technologically and economically feasible," modified to include a voter-verified paper audit trail.

Lake County elections officials say the county's system already is certified to meet HAVA requirements.

State law requires voter-verified paper audit trails by 2006, something that Lake County's electronic voting machines can't currently provide.

But Grendell's legislation would allow the county's machines to be exempted until the capacity for paper trails could be provided.