Public meeting set on voting machines
By BRIAN CALLAWAY
The Intelligencer    Bucks County Courier Times    26 June 2005

With Bucks' Eisenhower-era voting machines on the way out, a new watchdog group wants to make sure the county ushers in the best possible replacements.

Organizers of the Bucks County Coalition for Voting Integrity are worried new machines may come without features they say are needed for people to trust election tallies.

"Democracy begins with the integrity of the voting process, and ends without it," said Mary Ann Gould, one of the coalition's organizers. "And that's what we're being faced with today."

The group will host a 7 p.m. public forum Monday at the Bucks County Courthouse to discuss new voting technologies and concerns about different kinds of voting machines.

Laws passed in the wake of 2000's disputed presidential election say certain types of voting booths, including the lever-operated machines Bucks uses, have to be replaced before 2006's primary election.

Bucks has been using its machines since the 1950s, and county leaders have complained about having to get rid of equipment they say works fine.

"It's a waste of money - millions of dollars are going to be wasted, not only in Bucks County, but all across Pennsylvania," said Charley Martin, county commissioners chairman, who plans to attend Monday's forum.

"If they had a method they were unhappy with, such as what happened in Florida, say that part is illegal," he said. "But to ban the lever machines such as we have ... to me I think they rushed into it."

Bucks is applying for grant money to cover much of the new machines' costs.

The state has to sign off on what types of voting machines will be allowed next year. Brian McDonald, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said decisions about that probably won't be made until the end of the summer.
  

Counties that need to replace machines only have until the end of the year to order new ones, but McDonald said the state was setting up a contracting system for machines that should help counties buy new machines faster and for less money.

Gould, though, said it's important for county leaders and residents to know more about the different options before they make any decisions.

Electronic voting machines, for instance, often don't come with the type of paper trail needed for people to know their votes counted, or for election officials to double-check final results if there are any challenges.

Such electronic machines have run into problems in places where they've already been used, including Beaver, Greene and Mercer counties in western Pennsylvania. They were forced to switch to paper ballots earlier this year after the state banned the electronic machines they used because of various problems.

There is also a bill being considered in Congress to mandate paper trails for electronic voting machines.

Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, the Republican who represents Bucks County and parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, decided to co-sponsor the legislation this week, saying the steps it pushes would "maintain our reputation for voter integrity."

Gould said it's important to let leaders know what standards they have for elections.

"I expect the electronic machines will get better and better," she said. "But it's only going to be when we raise the issues of what we require as voters."