Miami County making way for new voting machines
Officials want $1M in machines to have proper care
Dayton Daily News. 10 June 2005 By Nancy Bowman

Board of Election members Thursday tackled a number of logistical questions associated with the 388 electronic machines, including finding a secure, climate-appropriate storage area.

"Man, we've got some work to do," board Chairman Roger Luring said.

Board members wanted assurances the equipment would be insured from the moment it arrives and requested information on monitoring the storage area's temperature and humidity on a routine basis.

Election Director Steve Quillen said he's notified county Administrator Andrew Votava of the June 30 delivery date and is working on temporary storage in Hobart Center for County Government.

Election board members said the earlier than expected delivery of machines ? the board just voted in May to go electronic ? makes their requests to the county commissioners for more space more urgent.

"This is serious. ... We told them more than once," board member Kelly Gillis said.

The board in October voted to formally notify the commission of a need for more space either in the office's current home in the county Courthouse or in the Hobart Center a couple of blocks away.

Gillis and board member Richard Adams met with the commission this year, again emphasizing more space is needed for storage, security and efficient election operations.

The electronic voting machines, being purchased with state and federal Help America Vote Act money, will replace an optical scan system. That system uses paper ballots marked with a pencil and read by a scanner.

Quillen said he recommended introducing the machines in the November election instead of the 2006 primary to take advantage of the state machine contract's provision for poll worker training and voter education.

The training and education are available only through the 2006 primary.