Voting machines to be demonstrated
By KEITH ROYSDON    Muncie Star Press    04 July 2005

MUNCIE - Beginning with the Delaware County Fair later this month and continuing through the end of the year into 2006, local voters will get a chance to see the new electronic voting system they will use beginning in next year's elections.

MicroVote General Corp. of Indianapolis has provided two voting machines to the county to help voters get acquainted with the new system.

Local Democratic and Republican party officials will each have use of one of the machines during the fair - scheduled for July 25-30 - and County Clerk Karen Wenger is scheduling demonstrations with local civic organizations. Wenger said she has already scheduled an October demonstration for the Association of Concerned Taxpayers.

"Voter education is important, and I'm looking for opportunities," Wenger said. "We have plenty of time before next May [and the primary election]."

In an early June meeting, the Delaware County commissioners awarded a $730,000 contract to MicroVote for its direct recording electronic system.

Wenger said last week that the county has been notified by the state that federal funding in connection with the Help America Vote Act - passed in the wake of the 2000 Florida election fiasco - would cover the cost of the contract.

The contract will include three voting machines for each of the county's 75 precincts. Wenger said additional machines would be purchased before the 2008 presidential election.

MicroVote representatives demonstrated the machines last week for local election officials.

The direct recording electronic system features an electronic screen and buttons that voters may push to cast votes for candidates. Votes are recorded on a credit card-sized "tally card" that is read by a computer after the polls close.

As demonstrated by the MicroVote representatives, the machines allow voters to return to previous "pages" of the ballot to change their minds. They can continue to do so until they push a red "cast vote" button.

MicroVote provides election systems in 46 Indiana counties.

Election officials who tried out the new system had questions that focused on voter education and polling place practices rather than on the technology.

Democrat Mike White said polling place workers need to emphasize that once the "cast vote" button has been pushed, "you are done."

"The judges in the polling place will have more responsibility," Wenger said. "There's no perfect system. Expect a learning curve."