Vote verification a big question with electronic machines
By PENNY RIORDAN   New Britain Herald  03/29/2005

 NEW BRITAIN As Connecticut prepares to unveil electronic voting machines in nine months, legislators, advocates and voters still have concerns about the safety, accuracy and accessibility of the upgrade in technology.

Lawmakers at all levels of government agree that electronic voting machines will improve voting on Election Day, but before the machines are in the possession of registrar of voters across the state, a number of concerns need to be worked out in pending state legislation.

Elected officials, technology experts and disability advocates were part of a panel sponsored by the New Britain Area League of Women Voters Monday night that discussed the potential pitfalls in electronic voting.

Starting Jan. 1, 2006, every polling place in every Connecticut municipality will have one electronic voting machine that will be in use in the next election after Jan. 1. State officials estimate each machine will cost between $5,000 and $7,000. Registrars hope to receive the machines by the late summer or early fall, and will begin to educate the public on how to use the machines, said Maria Greenslade, deputy secretary of state.

The purpose of electronic machines is to increase voting accuracy and to make voting more accessible to persons with disabilities.

Those who are visually impaired or who may not be able to push a lever have to ask for assistance to vote, which robs them of privacy other people have, disability advocates said.

"Persons with disabilities have a historically low voting rate," said Elanah Sherman, the project coordinator for the Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities.

Although the new technology will provide headphones for the hearing impaired and breath-responsive technology for paraplegics, the record of the vote might not be accessible to the visually impaired.

As legislators and the Secretary of the State?s Office are working out the details of the bill that would establish guidelines for the machines, the question of how to verify a vote is being debated.

Most computer experts and lawmakers agree that a vote needs be verified through a paper copy that is printed before a person officially votes on a computer screen, but it is unclear how that paper copy will be made accessible to those who are blind.

Legislators said they are confident that the appropriate technology will be worked out in the actual purchase of the voting machines, but acknowledge that a paper ballot is necessary to guarantee that the machine is making accurate tallies.

"You really need to have a system in place that really allows a voter to verify a vote," said state Rep. Timothy O?Brien, D-24th District.