Wood County gets good financial news on election front

By PAMELA BRUST   The Parkersburg News and Sentinel   16 March 2005

PARKERSBURG - Wood County officials let out a sigh of financial relief after West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland announced the state is going with the optical scan voting system instead of the more expensive touch-screen option.
The federal Help America Vote Act requires elimination of punch card and lever voting systems by no later than the first election for federal officials after Jan. 1, 2006. The federal mandates were a reaction to the Florida punch card voting controversy in the 2000 presidential election. HAVA requires voters must have the ability to change their vote.

The counties in West Virginia still using paper or lever voting systems would have had to convert anyway. But counties, like Wood, which uses the optical scan system were looking at considerable expense if the state had decided to go with the touch-screen system.

"This choice is great news for us financially. We had estimates of it costing between $800,000 and $1.2 million to convert to the touch-screens, depending on what type of financing would have been available through the state and HAVA," said County Clerk Jamie Six. Along with Wood County Commissioners Bob Tebay and Gary Deem and Circuit Clerk Carole Jones, Six attended the West Virginia Association of Counties Annual Meeting this week in Charleston where Ireland's decision was announced.

"My staff and I have conducted extensive research as to the best way to meet HAVA requirements. We have visited with other states and have analyzed our HAVA appropriations to come up with the best solution. We believe that optical scan systems are our best statewide approach," Ireland said.

Ireland said if counties choose to adopt the optical scan system, it will come at no cost to them.

"I did not feel it was fair to the counties to carry the financial burden to become HAVA compliant. Complying with HAVA will not be an easy task. This plan gives the counties an option that will alleviate their financial worries," Ireland said.

The secretary of state's office announced it will make one handicapped-accessible touch-screen voting machine, hardware, software and booth per precinct. Wood County has 85 precincts. The state has a total of about 2,000 voter precincts. Six said these units are equipped with headsets for the visually impaired. In addition, the new machines could be used for the early voting period, he noted.

"We can use it for the early voting, then it would all be elecontric and the touch-screens they will be providing have a paper trail," Six said.

The state is also providing one extra reader per county for election night tabulation.

Six said the state will be seeking proposals for the reader/calculator software. If the company Wood County uses is not chosen, the county will have some expense in converting its current card reader, because it has to be compatible. Six said the reader, purchased about five years ago cost approximately $40,000 at that time.

"Estimating it would cost $50,000 now, that's still a lot better than the $1.2 million we were looking at," Six noted.

Six said the county has two readers available so if one has problems election night, there is a backup.

"This will give us three under the state's plan," he noted.

The counties using optical scan will still be facing the problem of meeting the HAVA requirement that voters have to be able to change their mind. Using this system, the voter must have their original ballot declared spoiled and request a new one.

Six said the secretary of state's office will sponsor an educational program for voters on this procedure. That program will be funded through HAVA.

Cabell and Mason are currently the only two counties using touch-screens. Wood County is one of 28 counties that uses optical scan. Twelve counties in West Virginia use punch cards including Kanawha County. Ten counties use paper ballots including neighboring Pleasants and Wirt. The remaining counties use the lever system.

Wood County used punch card ballots from 1977 to 1999 when, faced with replacing aging equipment and purchasing new tabulation software to make the system 2000-year compliant, the county commissioners converted to optical scan. The punch card system was the first electronically tabulated ballot used in the state. It was authorized by the Legislature in 1969, and extensively revised in 1982.