Culver announces funds for new county voting machines
TIM ROHWER,    The Daily NonPareil
04/19/2005
    
Pottawattamie County will receive about $470,260 for new voting machines and other improvements for the election process from the Help America Vote Act, Secretary of State Chet Culver said Monday.

All Iowa counties will receive funds, mostly federal, from this act that was enacted after the controversial 2000 presidential election, he said.

"It means better machines in all 99 counties, which will ensure that their votes will be counted and counted accurately," Culver said while visiting Council Bluffs.

Culver spoke to area county election officials about the HAVA act, which was followed by a public meeting on the issue. About 30 citizens attended that meeting.

Besides new voting machines, the state will create a new centralized system where all voter data will be stored for quick access, Culver said.

"In the past, each county had to maintain files," he said. "We had 99 different files. Now, local officials will still have access, but the difference is, we'll be on one centralized system."

The big news for the average voter will be the new machines that will automatically indi-cate whether the vote was counted accurately.

Local officials are looking at two different types of machines. One is the precinct optical scan machine in which voters cast their ballots similar to the past, but will then put the ballot into a machine that immediately counts the ballots right then and there, or will indicate if the ballot was not properly filled out.

The other machine, known as the touch screen, will allow voters to mark their ballot by touching the machine's screen.

Pottawattamie County Deputy Auditor Gary Herman said the county is leaning toward the precinct optical scan machines.

"People won't see as big a difference in the voting process," he said.

There will also be similar machines, required by HAVA, that will allow an individual who is blind or visually impaired the same opportunity for access and participation, including privacy and independence, as other voters.

Machines will also be available to also assist individuals who have difficulty reading.

Herman said the county will be buying 48 of these optical scan machines.

All polling places will have to be handicapped accessible, which will include the construction of ramps to the main entrance if needed.

There are some places in the county where ramps will have to be built or a precinct will change location to meet that HAVA requirement, Herman said.

All of the machines will have to be purchased and the other improvement completed by Jan. 1, 2006, he said.

HAVA is truly needed, according to Culver.

In the 2000 election, there were between 2 million and 3 million people whose votes were never counted because of antiquated machines or outdated data systems, he said. That included 10,000 to 15,000 Iowa voters whose ballots were "spoiled" in that election, Culver said.