New voting system would assure more orderly elections

Editorial      The Daily South Town  May 31, 2005

THE ISSUE: Cook County clerk proposes optical scan voting system to replace punch-card ballots, which are not always reliable.
WE SAY: Because the right to vote is the keystone to democracy, we encourage officials to do whatever it takes to make sure election totals are accurate.

"Hanging chads" became a national joke in 2000. That was the year that spoiled ballots were at the center of the contested election results in Florida that were resolved in favor of George W. Bush, putting him into the White House.

While Florida got most of the attention, thousands of ballots were ruled invalid in Cook County that year as well. Because the vote tallies were not close in Illinois, the Cook County situation was treated as a footnote. But since 2000, a lot of time and attention has been devoted to find a better balloting system ? one in which a presidential election won't be affected by "chads," the tiny scraps of paper that sometimes remain attached to punch-card ballots and cause counting errors.

Cook County Clerk David Orr, who is responsible for planning and supervising elections in suburban Cook County, last week unveiled his proposed solution to the hanging chad problem. Orr will ask the county board next month to approve an "optical scan" system, augmented by touch-screen machines.

Optical scan ballots use the same system as standardized tests such as the ACT that most of us are familiar with from our school days. Voters use a pencil to fill in an oval next to the name of the candidate of their choice. Ballots are run through a scanner machine that counts the ballots. Voters can see whom they've voted for, and the ballots provide the "paper record" necessary for recount purposes.

Orr's proposal also calls for at least one touch-screen machine in each precinct. A new federal law provides funding to pay for new election machinery. The law requires a jurisdiction to buy some touch-screen machines for use by disabled voters in order to be eligible for the money. Orr says the Cook County changeover will cost about $23.8 million, all of which would be covered by federal money.

The hanging chad situation was treated as a joke back in 2000, and elderly voters in Florida were the butt of a lot of ridicule. But the truth is the punch card system was prone to mistakes because the chads often remained attached to the ballot. Few voters knew that they needed to examine the punch cards closely before ping them in the ballot box.

Orr proposed that the county buy its system from Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, Ca., the lowest of four bidders. Chicago officials also are about to choose a vendor for the city's new system.

Optical scanner balloting promises to be a simpler and easier-to-use alternative to punch ballots and a solution to a problem that wasn't really all that funny to anyone who believes the right to vote includes the right to have your vote counted accurately.