Voting machines get second look

By Cara Host    Observer-Reporter   16 April 2005

WAYNESBURG ? The state outlawed the use of Greene County's electronic voting machines last week, but on Friday, the Department of State decided to give them another look.

The UniLect Patriot voting system tentatively will be re-examined next Friday in Harrisburg. If the machines pass the test, they could be recertified for use in the May 17 primary, said Brian McDonald, spokesman for the Department of State.

Secretary of State Pedro Cortes decertified the system April 8, in part because one of the machines apparently failed a re-examination in February. A higher percentage of undervotes also were reported in the November election in Greene, Beaver and Mercer, the three counties that use the UniLect system.

Apparently, software upgrades may solve some of those problems.

"From our consultations with the company, they seem to be confident that they can correct those deficiencies within a matter of days," McDonald said. "The department determined that a re-examination was owed to everybody to see if the system can work."

"Unbelievable," Greene County Commissioner Pam Snyder said when she learned of the development. "Why didn't they do that before?"

The Department of State probably could have asked UniLect Corp. of Dublin, Calif. to address its concerns before the decertification, but "hindsight is always 20/20," McDonald said.

"These are serious issues. We wanted to make sure all of our bases are covered," he added. "Our main purpose is to protect the rights of Pennsylvania voters. If we would have gone ahead and allowed the system (despite) our concerns, that might have jeopardized the rights of the voters. That's why we (decertified). It wasn't to cause people a lot of grief and headaches."

Jack Gerbel, president of UniLect, defended the UniLect Patriot system as accurate. He said the state consultant who recommended decertification was "confused" about some aspects of the system and that he called for changes that had not been suggested before.

"We just are anxious to take care of whatever shortcomings there are," he said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

The three counties have started converting to an optical-scan system so that voters can use that method in time for the primary. And, if the state reverses itself and recertifies the UniLect machines, the counties will be able to choose between the two systems.

Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems and Software Inc. already is processing Greene County's election ballots for the optical-scan system. The state will pay for those ballots even if Greene County never actually uses them, McDonald said.

The state promised to pay all costs to implement an alternative system when they decertified the UniLect machines. It will cost at least $29,000 to set up a new voting method in Greene County.

Election officials from Greene County continue to believe in the UniLect system, even after the state decertified it.

"I never lost confidence in that system. That confidence is based on experience that I had since 1998," said Frances Pratt, director of elections.

Pratt added that she would support using the UniLect machines if the state recertifies them. However, that decision would be up to the commissioners, who also function as the Board of Elections.

For now, Pratt said the elections office would be prepared for either system. Getting ready for both systems may prove challenging, especially considering the tight time frame between now and the May 17 election.

"But we will be prepared regardless of which system is used," she said.