State unveils computerized vote machines

Counties will receive them at no cost

By JUSTIN HOOKS   SUN HERALD    15 July 2005

BILOXI - Mississippi Secretary of State Eric Clark gave circuit clerks across the state a glimpse into the future Thursday, unveiling new computerized voting machines.

Clark presented the machines at the Circuit Clerk's 70th Annual Convention at Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, and said the touch-screen system will do wonders to improve the state's election process.

"This is just going to be a wonderful thing," Clark said. "For the first time ever, we'll be able to have accurate election-night returns from around the state. As information comes in from the counties, they'll be able to transmit in real time over a secure line to our offices. It's a great system."

Diebold Election Systems, which supplies 95 percent of the state's ATMs, won the $15 million contract to upgrade the state's voting systems and will provide training, maintenance, voter education and technical support for the next five years.

The upgrade is part of the the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) signed in October 2002. HAVA requires the replacement of all central scanner machines, lever machines and punch-card machines in the state by Jan. 1, 2006, and at least one available device that is fully accessible to the disabled in every polling place.

Clark said county governments don't have to worry about the cost of the upgrade, or the security of the new systems.

"You hear about (computer) hacking, but it just can't happen here," he said. "It's as secure as anything can be. Based on everything I've seen, these are the best machines available and they're coming at zero cost to the counties."

The federal government is covering 95 percent of the cost of the machines under HAVA, with 5 percent covered by state matching funds. Mississippi is expected to receive 5,164 Diebold machines, but each county has discretion to choose what manner of HAVA-compliant system it wants to use.