Towns to Receive Electronic Voting Booths 
 
 
By: Jack Coraggio  Voices  03/09/2005 
 
 
 SOUTHBURY - All those in favor of advanced voting technology, say 'aye'.

By an act of the state Legislature, every city and town in Connecticut should have at least one electronic voting booth per polling place by January 1, 2006.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz spoke to the Southbury League of Women Voters Friday, March 10, about these upcoming advances in the voting system.

According to Ms. Bysiewicz, the state will receive a $33 million federal grant to bid on electronic voting machines. The goal is to purchase and distribute 750 of the new machines throughout the towns and cities in time for the 2006 Gubernatorial elections.

The hope is that the new system will offer quicker, more accurate results, cut down on voter confusion and, since the new machines are equipped with headphones, be more accessible to people with vision impairments.

"If you have a sight impairment, you don't need a family member with you in the polling place," said Ms. Bysiewicz.

She spoke about a blind Connecticut man she knows, Martin Knight, who has already tested the booths in a trial run during the 2003 municipal elections.

Ms. Bysiewicz said Mr. Knight joked with her that he was always leery about bringing in family members to help him vote, because they were of different political parties.

"Now Marty is so excited for the first time in his life to be able to vote as a blind person," Ms. Bysiewicz reported.

Eight towns tested the booths in that 2003 trial run and a University of Connecticut poll indicated that 92 percent of those voters felt the machines were "simple and easy to use."

The electronic booths will be computerized and may be touch-screen, depending on which company's bid Connecticut accepts.

But all will have fail-safe applications to quell some people's apprehensions concerning voting accuracy. For example, the machine will ask voters if they are confident they chose correctly before it processes the ballot.

Various security measures will be taken to protect against voter fraud or machine tampering, and although the method is computerized, voting results will not go online.

A paper receipt will be printed for voters to see their own results. Voters will not be able to keep this receipt; all receipts will be placed together in a security lock box.

Ms. Bysiewicz noted the new technology may not completely eliminate the hand-lever voting machines. Each municipality is required to have at least one electronic voting booth for each polling place - in Southbury there are five polling places - but towns and cities have the option to use the old booths alongside the new ones.

Voters would have the choice of which booth to use. It is only mandatory that the new voting machines be used during federal elections.

"There will be one for each polling place, that's mandatory requirement of federal law," said Ms. Bysiewicz. "In 2006, we'll ask each town and city if they want to completely replace their [hand-lever booths]. If they say yes, they will be given on a first-come, first-served basis."

The state will pay for the extra machines for municipalities that request them. Also, part of the grant will go to training voter registrars on how the machines work.

Ellen Samoska, the Republican Registrar of Voters in Bethlehem, doesn't expect Bethlehem to obtain more than the one mandatory electronic booth.

She liked the idea that more disabled people would be able to vote, but is pessimistic that any type of voter confusion would be neutralized.

"I don't think it will ever cut down on confusion," said Ms. Samoska, who was present during the recent referendum on sidewalks for Bethlehem, during which dozens of residents claimed they inadvertently voted incorrectly.

"With every advancement we seem to go three steps back."

Ms. Samoska is concerned that the technology will be outdated five years after the machines are purchased, as is the tendency with computers.

The state is reviewing bids from eight different electronic voting machine companies.