Touch-screen vote machines to get test

By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer

Volusia/Flagler News-Journal   April 05, 2005

The machines arrived Monday. The curious, the outraged and the Volusia County Council can come today.

It's time for Volusia County's mock touch-screen election.

Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall hopes the demonstration, which runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Wednesday at the Department of Elections in DeLand will help clear the way for her to buy 210 touch-screen machines to meet state and federal requirements for disabled-accessible voting.

But getting to choose the "minister of comic relief" one of numerous imaginary races on the electronic ballots may not satisfy local activists who have already stalled the purchase once by lobbying the County Council in favor of a paper record the touch screens don't provide.

"I think it's great that they're testing the machines," said Susan Pynchon, executive director of the DeLand-based Florida Fair Elections Coalition. "But it's not really determining the will of the voter when you have only one choice (of machine)."

The voting machine battle, which pits activists like Pynchon and groups such as the Halifax Area Democratic Club against many advocates for disabled voters, stems from the state's assertion that the equipment must be in place for the first election after July 1.

So far touch screen is the only equipment that meets state disability standards and is certified. But local activists seeking a so-called "voter verifiable paper trail" either a paper ballot or a printer receipt think the technology can be electronically manipulated and mistrust the company that makes the machines the county might buy. They argue that Diebold Election Systems is partisan based on a pro-Bush statement its CEO made before last year's election.

Activists want the state to delay its deadline to match a Jan. 1, 2006, federal deadline in hopes that other equipment that uses a paper ballot like the county's current optical scan will become available. Some argue that the state doesn't have a solid legal basis for its deadline. Two law professors interviewed by The Daytona Beach News-Journal delivered a divided verdict on the statute's clarity.

Most advocates for the disabled, who favor the state's July 1 deadline, say disabled voters have waited long enough.

A Diebold spokesman recently dismissed the idea that any company official's views would influence its products. And both Diebold and the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections contend that there have been no cases of election fraud due to electronic tampering since the advent of electronic voting systems 40 years ago.

On Monday, Volusia elections officials said they weren't worried by reports of user and programmer errors or touch screen breakdowns in some other areas.

Elections Chief Operating Officer Tim Augustine said most problems stem from a correctable "human factor" rather than the machines. Elections chief McFall said Volusia voters would still be able to use the optical scan system because the touch-screen system would only augment the current system not replace it.

"There's a group out there that no matter what is said and done, I cannot change their minds," she said.

"This (mock election) is really for the people who don't understand it or maybe they're curious about it," McFall said, adding: "All I need is four (council) votes."

A month ago, the council voted unanimously for a delay, and the item is set for discussion again at its regular meeting Thursday. On Monday, council members were still working through the issue.

County Chairman Frank Bruno said he hoped to meet with legislators and talk with Secretary of State Glenda Hood during a visit to Tallahassee today. If the county has any other option, he'd be inclined to take it.

He said he'll participate in the mock election.

"I want to see the system that we may be forced to buy," Bruno said.