Opponents square off in vote fight
The county's attorneys defend its opposition to paperless touch-screen machines, which are advocated by the National Federation for the Blind.   
By Kevin P. Connolly | Orlando Sentinel Posted July 14, 2005

DELAND Attorneys for Volusia County defended the County Council's opposition to touch-screen voting machines, saying in a court filing Wednesday that such devices are "adverse to the public interest" because they don't produce paper ballots.

The county's 20-page defense was filed for Friday's legal showdown in a federal courtroom in Orlando between opponents of touch-screen voting machines and blind advocates who support the controversial devices because they allow independent voting for people with visual disabilities.

Attorneys for the National Federation for the Blind and other plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit against Volusia County, and they are seeking a preliminary injunction Friday to force county officials to purchase touch-screens for the fall elections.

It's unclear how the county could comply quickly if a judge orders the immediate purchase of touch-screens because a majority of Volusia County's elected decision makers five of seven County Council members are at a National Association of Counties conference in Hawaii.

The devices' manufacturer Diebold Elections Systems told the county a contract must be approved by Friday in order to deliver the touch-screens by July 29, the so-called "-dead date" to have the machines in Volusia for the next elections.

Early voting for the Oct. 11 city races in Volusia starts Sept. 26, said Elections Supervisor Ann McFall, who supports touch-screens. She said she needs the machines in Volusia by July 29 to have enough time to train employees, write security procedures and perform other tasks.

"The -dead date for the county to get the machines is July 29 and, according to Diebold, they need a little lead time to process the order and get the machines to Volusia County by the 29th," said Martin H. Schreiber II, a partner with the Baltimore-based law firm Brown, Goldstein & Levy, for the National Federation for the Blind.

The federal suit was filed July 5 against McFall and Volusia County after a majority of County Council members in June twice rejected purchasing 210 machines from Diebold, citing the devices' lack of paper ballots.

"We're just not going to roll over in tears of frustration and say, 'OK, we'll wait until you decide what machine is best for us,' " said Kathy Davis of Ormond Beach, president of the National Federation for the Blind in Florida, a plaintiff.

The suit alleges the council's vote violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and a section of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1974.

The county legal defense said those acts don't mandate the right to vote with "privacy and independence."

That's part of the federal Help America Vote Act, which doesn't apply until Jan. 1, the county said.

The county also said forcing the purchase of paperless voting machines would be "adverse to the public interest of providing election equipment, which is accurate and reliable and provides for a 'paper trail' to verify that ballots are accurately recorded . . . through a recount for the benefit of all Volusia County voters both disabled and nondisabled."

The defense also noted the importance of paper ballots for recounts during the 2000 presidential election and close city races in Volusia County.

Volusia is thought to be the only county in Florida to vote against a contract for touch-screen machines, the only device certified in Florida to comply with a state law calling for at least one disability-accessible device per voting location for elections after July 1.

However, the county argues that the state law "does not require the county to purchase any particular voting equipment by a date certain," and a federal compliance date of Jan. 1 applies.

"At a minimum, plaintiff's claims are clearly premature," the defense said.

The county wants more time for alternative voting systems to be certified for use in Florida that provide independent voting for the disabled and a paper trail.

Paperless touch-screens machines, originally proposed as a supplement to Volusia's existing paper-based optical-scan system, allow the visually disabled to vote independently with "audio ballots" and headphones.

The touch-screens' lack of paper ballots sparked opposition from local voting activists.

In another court filing Wednesday, McFall asked for an emergency hearing on her request for the county to pay for her legal services.

McFall's support of touch-screens conflicts with the County Council's opposition, and she wants legal representation because of her dilemma.

She said she could be charged with a third-degree felony for holding elections without accessible voting machines. If she doesn't conduct elections because she doesn't have the proper equipment, which she doesn't have the authority to buy, it could be construed as a violation of her sworn duties as an election official under the Florida Constitution.