County officials get to see new voting machines at work
 By David Krotz Winona Daily News    16 June 2005

Voting in Winona County is going to get easier if new machines are installed.

No longer will votes be carried to the Winona County Auditor's office for tabulation on election night. Instead, the paper ballots will be scanned at the polling places and the totals will be available to the auditor immediately after polls close.

"We'll be able to cut everybody's time. We'll be able to download the results into the computer at the state and get them to the public and the media more quickly," said Cherie MacLennan, county auditor.

New equipment also will permit voters to catch errors and avoid ballot cancellations.

About $400,000 in federal funding, authorized by the Help America Vote Act, will pass through state hands and land in Winona in the form of new voting equipment as early as this fall.

About 30 officials from throughout the county saw the two $5,000-plus machines at work Wednesday. One machine is a precinct ballot counter and the other a voter-assist terminal that will ease voting for people with disabilities.

Federal regulations require that some form of voter-assist equipment be in place at each polling place by 2006.

With funding for the machines recently approved by the state, MacLennan has held two planning meetings with a newly formed Election Equipment Committee, comprised of officials from cities and townships in the county.

The Winona County Board has to approve a county-wide plan and get a draft of it to the state by the end of September in order to receive the money for the machines. To fit within the budget, the county will probably reduce the number of polling sites from 45 to about 40, MacLennan said.

Among the voting errors that can be eliminated with the new machines are "funny marks" on the paper ballot that might negate an entire scanned ballot and people who lose their votes because they mistakenly "cross over vote" outside the party they're registered for, during primary elections.