County unveils finalists for new voting machine
 
 
 
 
By Adam Belz,    The Citizens Voice    07/19/2005 
 
Seven companies jockeyed Monday to win public opinion on the county's new voting machines.
County commissioners must choose one voting machine for all 316 precincts in Luzerne County within the next two months. The public was invited to the courthouse to try out prospective models and speak with company representatives.
Visitors could vote in a straw poll on one of the old machines to tell which new machine they liked best. The winner of the poll was Advanced Voting Solutions' WINvote.
Director of Elections Leonard Piazza estimated 600 people came to look at the machines.
"It's good that they have these here for us to see," said Mildred Umla, a visiting 65-year-old election inspector from Kingston. "I don't think they're difficult."
The Electronic Voting Review Committee, chaired by Mary Ann Petrillo, will meet the first week in August and make a recommendation. The commissioners will make their decision soon after.
The machines can take as long as four months to manufacture, and the county is pushing to install the new models before the November deadline set by the Help Americans Vote Act of 2002, according to Piazza. The federal law creates more stringent election standards and gives counties money to help them comply.
The county has $3 million from the act to help pay for the new machines, but may have to draw from the county budget, depending on the model and cost of training, Piazza said.
Mary Beth Kuznik, of the statewide Coalition for Voter Integrity, said it's important that electronic voting machines keep a hard copy of each vote. These can be counted later in case of trouble.
"The main thing about electronic machines is any computer can break down," she said. "So we need to have a voter-verified record. Whoever you voted for, you should see that printed on a piece of paper."
All the models on display are awaiting certification from the secretary of the Commonwealth under the new regulations. The public was free to walk around the ground floor of the rotunda at the courthouse, pushing buttons, sliding cards and listening to sales pitches. As the day wore on, sweat dripped down weary sales representatives' faces.
"These vendors have not had a break," said Petrillo. "There hasn't been any downtime."
Four of the seven vendors offer touchscreens, two offer full-face voting booths, and one offers push button controls. Even the similar models have subtle but important differences. One is conveniently wireless, one comes with its own printer, one lets you see your printed ballot before you vote, and another can come with a huge computer screen. Piazza was quick to emphasize there is no perfect system.
"There's no system out there, whether lever or otherwise, that's infallible," he said. "You're going to have a certain amount of error no matter if you're going to use paper ballots or electronic ballots."