Local elections board to vote yet again on new voting-machine system 
2005-04-18 
By Nick Claussen 
Athens NEWS  
 

The Athens County Board of Elections soon is expected to vote a third time on new voting machines for the county, and voting machines could be in place in time for the November election.

After the 2000 election, state and federal officials began pushing for new voting machines to replace the traditional punch-card machines used around the country. Like many Ohio counties, Athens County currently uses punch-card machines.

The Athens County Board of Elections initially looked at new voting machines from different companies that included both electronic touch-screen machines and optical-scan machines. The optical-scan machines allow voters to fill in circles to make their votes (like on a standardized test) and then feed the voting cards into a machine that counts the votes. The machine also can tell voters immediately if there are any problems with their ballots.

In January 2004, near the deadline set by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to choose a machine, the Athens County Board of Elections voted 3-1 to purchase electronic touch-screen machines from Diebold Elections Systems. At one time, local elections officials thought they might have the new machines in place in time for the November 2004 election.

Later in 2004, Blackwell put on hold the process for obtaining new voting machines because of questions about whether the voting machines should include paper audits of the votes.

Earlier this year, Blackwell asked all Ohio counties to choose between two optical-scan machines, because they could provide paper audits and the touch-screen machines could not. Athens County Board of Elections members had a split vote on the new machines, so the board forwarded the decision on the new voting machines to Blackwell, who chose the Diebold optical-scan machines for Athens County.

Last week, Blackwell put the process on hold again, saying that all counties will now have to choose for a third time. For this third choice, each county can choose between the two optical-scan machines, an electronic touch-screen machine from Diebold that now has a paper audit, and possibly other touch-screen machines that may have paper audits.

James Lee, spokesman for Blackwell's office, said Friday that when his boss asked the counties to choose between the two optical-scan machines, there were no certified touch-screen machines with printers for a paper audit. He added that the Ohio General Assembly is now requiring a paper audit of the votes.

"Now that such a system exists (with the electronic touch-screen machines)... we want to give counties the opportunity to choose that system if in fact that is what they prefer," Lee said. The machines with the printers are actually less expensive for the state than the original touch-screen machines without printers, he added.

The Diebold touch-screen machine is the only such machine that has passed state and federal certification, Lee said. Other touch-screen machines with paper audits may also be certified so that counties can consider purchasing them, but they will need to be certified quickly, he said. Companies that want to sell these machines in Ohio need to be certified by May 13. Counties must their new voting machines by May 24, he added.

With the paper audit of the voting machines, each voter can confirm his or her votes at the polling place, Lee said. With the touch-screen machines, the voters can read over their printouts to check their votes. With the optical-scan machines, voters can put their cards in the vote-counting machines, which will notify them if there are any mistakes on their ballots, he added.

The state will purchase the voting machines for each county, and state officials hope to have the new machines in place around Ohio by November, Lee said.

SUSAN GWINN, CHAIR OF THE Athens County Board of Elections, predicted Saturday that it will be difficult to get new voting machines to each county in Ohio by November. Gwinn added that she hopes that Athens County can still use the punch-card voting system in November.

All across the country, states are buying new voting machines and the vendors may not have the resources to put the machines in place everywhere by November, Gwinn said.

"The November election is going to be a pretty big election," Gwinn said. With all of the municipal and township races around Ohio, the election probably will be a complex one, she said.

The elections board probably will discuss the new options for voting machines at its next meeting, Gwinn said.

"I personally feel like maybe we should go ahead with the optical-scan choice," she said. Gwinn said she likes how the machines are simple, how voters only need to have a pencil to vote, and how the optical-scan machines are less expensive than the touch-screen machines.

While the state says it will purchase machines for the counties, Athens County may need to buy additional machines, Gwinn said. Since the optical-scan machines cost less than the touch-screen machines, the county could buy a great number of optical-scan machines if needed. For the last November election, the county purchased 30 additional punch-card ballot machines because voter turnout was expected to be high.

State Sen. Teresa Fedor, D- Toledo, sent out a news release on Thursday stating that she had "championed the use of paper-audit trails in our election system" and was pleased that Blackwell had approved the touch-screen machine with the paper audit.

"Finally defenders of democracy can rest easily," Fedor said in the release. "Secretary Blackwell made a decision today to allow counties the choice of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) election machines, and it is the right decision."