Electronic voting to be available in 2006

ATM-like machine access likely limited to one per poll; most voting to remain similar

By Mark Scott    The Courier    25 May 2005
All voters in Arkansas will have access to electronic, touch-screen voting machines by next May?s party primary elections as required by the Federal Help America Vote Act, although access will likely be limited in most areas, according to the Secretary of State?s office and local officials.
Individual county election commissions will ultimately decide to what extent those machines will be available to voters in their areas. The increased voting technology is being funded through a federal grant made available by the HAVA.
In Pope County, the election commission has tentatively ed an option that would place one touch-screen voting machine at each polling place, the minimum number allowed by the HAVA. Most voting will continue as it has in the past, with voters filling in oval circles on paper ballots and then having them tabulated through an optical ballot scanner.
Counties also have the option of ing a full system of electronic voting, although most counties are opting against it, said Tim Humphries, legal counsel to Secretary of State Charlie Daniels. Five of the state?s 75 counties presently use a form of electronic voting.
County election commissions have been given the choice between three specific election systems, ranging from the full electronic system to one that allows for counting ballots by hand. Pope County chose the intermediate plan between the two extremes. Humphries said many other counties have made a similar choice.
Humphries said counties should learn by this summer if the plan they have ed is accepted, based on available funding provided to the state. There presently appears to be sufficient funds for counties to receive their first choice, Humphries said, adding that those figures were still subject to change.
Pope County Election commissioners Dale Brown and Portia Short, along with Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson, County Clerk Don Johnson, County Attorney Jim Coutts and Justice of the Peace Madelyn Ginsberg, met recently to discuss which option to choose. While acknowledging electronic voting may be the wave of the future, local officials chose to slowly implement a full electronic system rather than doing it all at once.
While aimed at voters with disabilities, anyone will be able to vote by using the new electronic machines. With only one machine per precinct, however, lines may become long at peak times, Brown said.
Humphries said the electronic machines are similar to ATM machines or automatic check-out machines at grocery stores. Voters will cast their ballots by touching a screen, pushing a button or turning a dial to indicate their vote on the screen, and then the voter must record their ballot when prompted by the machine. The machine will then print out a ballot on paper for the voter to verify his/her vote before making a final decision, according to information provided by the Secretary of State?s office.
In a letter to county election commissions, Daniels said his office is working to make the state HAVA compliant through two phases: Phase one will fully convert the 13 counties that use punch and lever machines, along with the nine counties that hand-count paper ballots, prior to the May 23, 2006 preferential primary. At the same time, the state office will provide the remaining counties one electronic voting machine per poll to use along with their existing vote collecting method.
?This will ensure that Arkansas is HAVA compliant before the first federal election of 2006,? Daniels wrote.
In phase two, Daniels? office will work with counties to determine the number of additional machines that are needed for the Nov. 7 general election, with a goal of having those machines in place by the September school board elections.
With contested primary and general elections involving the governor and lieutenant governor?s races next year, election officials are already anticipating a high voter turnout.