New voting machines coming...Clerk says purchase near; all or most to be paid by the feds
BY ERIC MANN     Decatur Daily Democrat   July 13, 2005  
  

Adams County officials are two or three weeks away from purchasing 70 new voting machines for the county at a price tag of almost $287,000 all to be paid by the federal government.

Adams County Clerk Nan Nidlinger told the county commissioners on Monday that no county funds would be required, but she amended her view when speaking on Tuesday to the county council. She said she expects the cost of all the devices to be "at or below" $287,000, but if there is any county expense, it would not be greater than $10,000.

While new voting equipment, which must be delivered by January 1, 2006, will be obtained for the 30 precincts in the county, Nidlinger told the commissioners that the current 30-year-old voting system, which uses computer punch cards, may be given to local schools for elections to student council, etc.

Nidlinger was joined at both meetings by Doyle Lehman of Berne and Ralph Smith Jr. of rural Decatur the three of whom comprise the Adams County Election Board as they reported on the progress of obtaining new voting devices to comply with the 2001 federal Help America Vote Act, passed after the still-controversial 2000 presidential election.

The election board members said five manufacturers of voting machines were approved by state officials for consideration by Indiana's 92 counties and Nidlinger indicated that a "direct record electronic" voting system is the type toward which the Adams County Election Board is leaning.

Asked at the meeting if such devices have a backup paper vote tabulation to be used in case of recounts, Nidlinger said they do and that backup paper counts are required by state officials who oversee the voting process.

The clerk said two meetings were held with voting machine vendors, with Commissioner Steve Baumann attending one and Adams County Councilman Randy Colclasure the other. Nidlinger said she, Lehman, and Smith posed 50 or 60 questions to the vendor representatives.

She said the election board is evaluating those responses and will ask followup questions in the days ahead, so a recommendation to the commissioners can perhaps be made this month on which devices to buy. Smith said delivery of the new devices would be 30 to 60 days after the contract is signed by the commissioners.

Smith also said the election board wants to set up the devices in public places supermarkets, meetings of service clubs, such events as the Callthumpian festival in Decatur, and such places as Swiss Village, Chalet Village, and Woodcrest so people can see them, use them, and get used to them before the primary and general elections in May and November of 2006. "We'll really get out there this winter" for hands-on demonstrations, the clerk said.

"None of this equipment is hard to use at all," Nidlinger told the county council, as she compared the future voting process to pushing buttons in an elevator.

She said the election board is seeking to learn how to do as much as it can with whichever voting system is purchased so people within county government will be able to operate the system without bringing in outside experts.

Nidlinger noted that, when she took office, the county was spending $5,000 a year for election-night help, but she and her staff learned to do such tasks, so that expense was eliminated. She told the county council that the clerk's office has been spending $12,000 per year for election programming assistance, but that she and her chief deputy will learn how to do such things, thus saving that money, too.

Smith told the commissioners there could be a two-year free service agreement with whichever new voting system is obtained. There is at least a 10-year life of the new equipment, although the county may make changes as techonolgy changes.