Voters sample new election machines

Amie Rose DAILY HERALD   31 March 2005

About 700 voters stood in line some for an hour or more Wednesday to test drive voting machines from two companies that are competing for a state contract to replace all punch-card voting machines.

Diebold and Election Systems & Software each had two types of machines at the mock election at South Towne Mall in Sandy optical scan machines and direct-recording

 
Bill Gibson, director of the state's Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, said with the electronic voting machines, blind and visually impaired Utahns will "truly be able to cast secret ballots," because there is Braille writing and a voice-guidance option on the machine.

Michael Cragun, director of the state Elections Office, said a blind man from St. George flew to Salt Lake City on Wednesday so he could try the electronic machines.

People with disabilities waited in line throughout the day to try the machines, including 40 blind people who traveled together to the event.

Clarity Sanderson, from the Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus, stood outside the mock election at the mall handing out fliers explaining problems with electronic voting machines. She also had a flier about a voting system developed in California with open source code that reads back votes.

"There is another alternative for people concerned about the machines," she said.

People waiting to vote started with a survey about past voting experience. Then, after a 45-minute to an hour wait, they started voting and completed a survey after using each machine. Some people only tried one type of machine, while others tried three or four.

"I resent the long line," said Barbara Neville, a West Jordan resident and election judge.

Neville tried the optical scan machines, and said she thought the new machines would make her job as an election judge easier because the machine would do the counting.

But, with the new machines, voters will need to trust the machines and the people who programmed them, she said.

Janet Ostler, a Syracuse resident, said it will be important to have someone explain the machines to first-time users, so voters won't be nervous or frightened.

"I don't think they're any easier you still have to pick and choose," she said.

Two machines had problems during the day. Diebold had a problem with a printer on one of its machines, Cragun said.

Election Systems & Software had to replace one of the machines in the afternoon because it wasn't working.

But Cragun doesn't consider the technical difficulties a problem.

"They gave us questions we need to ask," he said.

Today, state representatives will meet with the two companies to ask the "tough questions," said Lt. Gov Gary Herbert. Then, within about 30 days, there will be a public hearing with the state's Election Equipment Selection Committee, and within 90 days the committee will have a recommendation. He will make a decision on the recommendation soon after the committee's decision.

The state, to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, decided to replace all the punchcard voting machines in the state with electronic ones. The mock election was a test of machines from the two companies that bid on the project.

Herbert said he'd like to have some of the ed machines in place to try during city elections in November. The federal deadline is Jan. 1, 2006.

The federal government will pay $20.5 million to replace the machines, but that will be about $5 million short of the total cost, Herbert said. When the state started the process, it thought there would only be a $1 million difference between the total cost and what the federal government would pay.

"In the beginning, we always thought there would be a $1 million shortfall spread throughout the state, which doesn't sound like much but when you get to the counties' budgets, compared to the state, it's a big difference," he said.

Utah County commissioners have been resistant to paying for the new machines.

Herbert said the state must have one electronic voting machine in each polling place for blind voters, even if it decides not to replace all the punch-card machines.