Keep moving forward

Opinion     West Orange Chronicle    June 22, 2005

The freeholders took a bold step last week when they rejected a proposal to sell $7.5 million in bonds to underwrite the purchase of 700 new voting machines. What they did appears right, at this moment in time. They were being backed into a corner and asked to make a decision on what many freeholders considered to be inadequate information. And they refused. Good for them.

But by making that decision, they now have gone down a tricky road. Unless they act quickly and with intelligence, they might walk into trouble.

Here's what happened. The federal 2002 Help America Vote Act mandates that all states have electronic voting machines by January 2006. State law reinforces that mandate. But if a county buys machines not approved by state and federal authorities, they lose the 75 percent reimbursement provided by the act, and the machines might be disallowed in an election. Federal monetary penalties are also possible. And further, once new machines are bought and received, all 2,500 county election workers must be trained in their operation before the first vote in 2006, currently set for April. That takes time, and the sooner the machines are purchased, the better.

But the freeholders were unhappy because the machines approved by the state did not provide a paper backup of the electronic tally. This means hackers might alter the vote, or a glitch could erase votes, and nobody would know. Or the machines might break down, as computers sometimes do, and the votes would be lost. All of which would be a disaster on an election day.

The freeholders wanted more time to get enough information to make the right choice. And that seems reasonable. But we urge them now to proceed with haste. There still appears time to make the mandated deadlines. Explore the options. Talk to other counties that are using the approved machines. Consider the choices. And then make the decision.

The stakes are high. That 75 percent reimbursement is worth more than $5 million. And we don't want our elections overshadowed by controversy. In short, we can understand the need for more time to get things right, but foot-dragging at this point is unwise.