Helping us vote

By John Hilton, The Sentinel  May 22, 2005
  

It's been four-and-a-half years since widespread voting problems in Florida spurred a national crisis that threw the presidential election outcome into the Supreme Court.

The fallout is just now reaching Cumberland and Perry counties.

Like their counterparts across the state, officials in both counties are hoping the slow wheels of government turn a little faster so they can meet the Jan. 1, 2006, deadline to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act.

"The time on this is getting grim," says Jerry Wilkes, Cumberland County director of technology and information. "It's not a crisis, but I have a sense that time is passing now."

After the Florida recount battle in the 2000 presidential election, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 and budgeted nearly $3.4 billion for states to comply with new regulations by January 2006.

The federal guidelines outlaw lever voting machines and punch card machines. The latter is used in Perry County, while Cumberland uses the optical scan system, which is an approved system under the new law.

New machines needed

That means Perry County officials must purchase a new voting system for its 32 voting precincts. In addition, both counties must provide handicapped-accessible machines and have the capability to instantly check for "overvotes" or "undervotes" to be in compliance.

In Cumberland, that means two new machines for each of its 98 voting precincts. Wilkes estimates that handicapped-accessible machines cost $5,000 each, while vote tabulation machines cost roughly $5,200 each.

The former machines will allow those with disabilities to vote on their own, including those who are visually and hearing impaired. There has to be at least one machine per precinct accessible to the handicapped.

Disabled voters currently vote with assistance from friends, family members and staff, Wilkes says.

Money has been slow to filter down to the counties and what funds are promised will not be enough, officials say. Pennsylvania received about $135 million from Help America Vote.

Perry County can expect at least $8,000 per precinct because it needs a new voting system, State Department spokesman Brian McDonald says, while Cumberland is eligible for $3,000 per precinct for the required upgrades.

"It won't be near enough money," says Bonnie Delancey, voter registration director for Perry County. "I don't understand how it's all going to come together."

Wilkes says Cumberland submitted a $1 million grant application to cover the costs of the new machines it needs and expects to get the entire amount. Still, while it may cover the cost of equipment, it "doesn't cover all of the costs to the county," he adds.

More than 600 pollworkers in Cumberland will require extensive retraining, Wilkes says, and the county will embark on an advertising campaign to educate the public on the voting changes.

"How you vote will change and how things operate at the precincts will change," he says.

Decisions to be made

Before the money can be released the state must certify and approve a list of vendors willing to provide new voting machines to the counties.

McDonald says that process should be completed in the next "several weeks."

Wilkes fears it might be a lot longer. "The question then is can manufacturers produce enough machines of those types by the deadline," he says, "because all of America has this problem right now."

The other option for Perry County officials is to pick a new voting system now and gamble that it meets new rules.

Otherwise, they face the possibility of losing federal funding if the new systems are not implemented in time.

The federal Election Assistance Commission has reportedly threatened to notify the Justice Department of any states not in compliance with the law. The federal government then could deny additional funding or sue to recover spent funds.

Perry has used the punch card system since the early 1980s and "we've had no problems with this system at all," Delancey says. "We're just waiting to see what systems will be approved. We'll probably go from there to decide what system (commissioners) are going to approve for purchase."

A challenge

Cumberland County Chief Clerk John Connolly says the tight timeframe will "challenge" the county. "We will have to train our pollworkers on how the machines operate and other things in what will be our second-biggest election year," he says. "It's a challenge to do."

The 2006 election cycle includes races for Pennsylvania governor and U.S. senator.

Once the new regulations take effect, Cumberland will no longer count votes at the election bureau. Votes will be scanned at each precinct and transferred to a disk.

Connolly is concerned that older poll workers will quit because its too much new training required and that older voters might get confused and frustrated.

He is no fan of the new vote tabulation process either.

"There'll be no ballot counting or scanning at the county level," Connolly says.

"We'll just be feeding the disk into the machine. That really bothers me."