County may take legal action: Commissioners in dispute with state over voting machines
Chillicothe Gazette. February 25, 2005. By Janelle Rucker,Gazette Staff Writer

The Ross County Board of Commissioners is taking another step in its fight against new voting machines mandated by Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Tuesday, the board moved to allow County Prosecutor Scott Nusbaum to investigate the court order obtained by Franklin County to postpone Blackwell's mandate. It is also open to the possibility of joining in those legal actions.

Feb. 8, Attorney General Jim Petro issued an opinion, at the request of Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien, stating Blackwell doesn't have the power to make counties choose a specific voting machine.

"County boards of elections are separate bodies from the Secretary of State, with their own statutory powers and duties, including responsibilities that require the exercise of discretion," Petro said.

In response to a letter from the board acknowledging Petro's opinion, Blackwell said the "Attorney General's opinion is just that an opinion."

"When you've got two public officials at odds like that, we need a court order," said Nusbaum.

The call for new machines comes in response to the Help America Vote Act, which requires all voting machines have a voter-verified paper audit trail.

In response to Blackwell's Feb. 9 deadline, the Ross County Board of Elections chose Election Systems and Software Model 100. It is an optical scan machine where, according to board chairman Stephen Madru, voters fill out a paper ballot with a pen or pencil and then take it and it into the machine. The machine then reads the ions and will give the ballot back if the voter overvoted or missed a section.

According to Board of Elections Director Nancy Bell, this machine may make the individual voting process longer, creating a need for more machines per polling place.

The current direct recording electronic machines use a touchpad system. The voter goes into the booth and pushes the button next to their ion. That ion lights up, allowing the to voter see their choices and determine if they missed anything before they cast their vote.

This machine also doesn't allow overvoting.

"We've got the most efficient system going, and they want us to scrap it for something less efficient," Commissioner Frank Hirsch said.

"We need to fight it," Hirsch said. "We're going to take a 60-year step backward."

And, votes can change with the optical scan machines, Bell said.

"It has been our experience that the count can change due to some marks being counted one time and not another, by too light of pencil or too dark of a pen being used," she said. "Even a piece of dust or lint can affect the count."

The optical scan machines were tested in 1995, when the county was shopping for new machines.

"Voters didn't like them. Pollworkers didn't like them," Bell said.

In a letter to Blackwell dated Feb. 3, pollworker Marilyn Shreve, of Richmond Dale, voiced her opinion.

"The workers at the polls had a voice in the purchase of these machines. I would appreciate your informing me of just how many pollworkers were involved in your ions," she wrote. "Therefore, we resent your decision that will waste our tax money. We still have about two years to pay on these machines, they do a commendable job, are easy to use and indisputably accurate."

Shreve received a response from Ohio Director of Election Reform Judy Grady Feb. 19. In her letter, Grady assured Shreve the "decision was not made in a vacuum" and the machines are "the best option for the citizens of Ohio."

Shreve disagrees.

"They didn't do an exhaustive study," she said. "I feel they're jumping the gun. At the rate they're going, in four to five years we'll be buying new machines again."

Shreve suggests the producers of the direct recording electronic machines are given time to make them compliant.

Sen. Timothy Grendell, R-Chesterland, introduced a bill Wednesday that would do just that.

Senate Bill 77 proposes the seven counties with electronic machines are allowed to continue using those machines until the technology to make them VVPAT compliant becomes available.

While he is optimistic about success for Lake and Mahoning counties, Grendell is not so sure about what will happen in other counties.

"He hasn't seen our machines," Bell said. "He isn't familiar with them."

In her testimony to the state Senate Tuesday, Bell asked that the Senate reconsider the VVPAT requirements until the federal government requires them.

"This could give the counties some time to phase out our present machines," she said. "At least until we get them paid for."

The county will continue to make payments of $6,327 a month on the current machines until September 2006. They are in the process of trying to get state help to pay off the current machines if they aren't going to be used, said Bell. The state has rejected the request, and Bell doesn't anticipate a change of heart.

The financial burden put on the county by changing the machines is reason for much of the opposition. The actual ES&S machine will be provided by money from the Help America Vote Act, but other costs for storage, moving, maintenance and ballots will have to be paid by the county. The board has loosely calculated an extra $100,000 a year to have the ballots printed, a task they used to do themselves.