County stands firm on election paper trail

By JAMES MILLER    Daytona Beach News-Journal   June 30, 2005

DELAND Their attorney said they should do it, but Volusia County council members said no.

In a place where elections have been decided by a coin flip or recounted in the glare of the national media, the allure of having a paper ballot proved too strong to ignore for four council members Wednesday.

For the second time in a month, a divided council refused to buy 210 touch-screen voting machines for people with disabilities primarily because the machines don't use paper ballots.

Paper-ballot activists have argued the touch screens are vulnerable to virtually untraceable electronic fraud or mishaps. But the state requires counties to have equipment to allow people with disabilities to vote independently and in secret for the first election after July 1, and so far only touch-screen equipment has been approved for the purpose.

The council's decision which went against the advice of County Attorney Dan Eckert enraged many advocates for people with disabilities and set the stage for a potentially costly high-profile lawsuit.

"We will defend our right to have a secret ballot," said Jim Dickson, vice president for government affairs for the American Association of People with Disabilities, which promised to sue the county. "We will defend the rule of law."

He would not discuss when or where the lawsuit would be filed. The National Federation of the Blind of Florida and the Halifax Council of the Blind also have said they will pursue legal action.

"It is a civil rights issue, and they just voted it down, which means they voted to not give people their civil rights, and that's illegal," said blind activist Doug Hall, a member of both organizations.

After a six-hour hearing Thursday, Councilman Jack Hayman made a motion to give Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall the green light to buy the machines with more than $800,000 of federal grant money.

She has said the machines would only be used alongside the county's existing paper-ballot based system, but Hayman's motion garnered only three votes of seven, with council members Frank Bruno, Art Giles, Dwight Lewis and Carl Persis opposed. The same council members rejected the plan in June.

County Chairman Bruno said it was a "no-win" situation.

He said the state Division of Elections and voting machine vendors should have moved more quickly to provide disabled-accessible equipment with a paper ballot. While touch-screen opponents have expressed interest in alternate equipment for voters with disabilities, using the equipment could require the county to change its entire voting system.

"I've been an advocate for the disabled community for many years. I want to take down those obstacles," Bruno said. "But I want to make sure that all voters of Volusia County have the confidence in the voting system, that in case of an equipment failure or whatever, we have a ballot that we can go back and recount."

The council's decision came after attorney Eckert told council members that buying the touch screens was their only legally available alternative.

McFall said she will probably ask a judge for a declaratory judgment about the legality of holding municipal elections in October without the equipment. State elections officials have said they don't have the authority to intervene in the municipal elections.