New vote system is touching

Modern machines to make debut in November election

By JOE LIVERNOIS    Monterey Herald    21 July 2005

Elections in Monterey County will soon be conducted by touch-screen voting machines that look as though they could be R2-D2's grandchildren.

Registrar of Voters Tony Anchundo today will ask the Board of Supervisors for permission to convert the county election system to touch-screen ballots at polling places, a move Anchundo said would meet new federal voting laws.

"It will be a whole new era in voting," he said. "People will still have the option of using paper ballots by voting absentee, but they will use the touch screens at polling places."

For the upcoming November election, touch-screen devices will be placed in all polling places, as will the traditional paper ballots. By next year, all polling places will be exclusively touch screen.

In another development, supervisors are expected to agree to move the registrar's office from a South Main Street shopping center to the old county public works' office on East Alisal.

Monterey County is not new to touch-screen voting. In 1999, Anchundo's office bought 30 touch-screen voting devices and placed them at kiosks in area shopping centers for people who wanted to vote by absentee.

But the registrar stopped using them after learning of reports of problems in other parts of the country that had converted to the method. Critics were concerned that the technology did not allow users to verify their votes and that the lack of a paper trail made it impossible to recount votes by hand.

Since then, Congress enacted the Help America Vote Act to encourage full access to polling places, and the touch-screen technology has improved, Anchundo said.

"Touch screen is the only technology available that is certified by the federal government and the state to allow election officials to comply" with the Americans With Disabilities Act provisions of the Help America Vote Act, he said.

The new equipment about 330 new touch-screen voting devices and training and outreach programs will cost about $3.8 million. The county will get $1.9 million from the federal government for the conversion and has secured another $1.9 million from a state bond approved by voters in 2000.

Anchundo said his own concerns about touch-screen voting machines have abated since improvements were made to give election officials and voters additional backup of the votes cast on the machines.

The machines Monterey County will be using the Sequoia AVC Edge with VeriVote Printer stores votes in its own memory system and on a removable cartridge. Each voter will be able to verify his or her vote on a printed document that will be given to poll workers and stored in case a hand recount is sought.

About half of the Monterey County residents who cast votes in last year's presidential elections opted to vote by absentee ballot, an option that will still be available.

Representatives from the two major political parties in Monterey County said they believe the touch-screen option will help voters.

"As long as there is a record of who voted when and the process is efficient and open, it's a good thing," said Amy Thoma, executive director of the Monterey County Republican Party.

"Anything that allows people to vote and makes it easier for them is good," said Gary Karnes, a campaign consultant for Democratic candidates.

Thoma and Karnes said they also support the registrar's move to the old public works offices.

Anchundo has been trying to find a new location for years because the county spends about $220,000 annually to lease the 11,000-square-foot office on South Main Street. While the office is relatively large when no election is being held, it is too small on election days.

During last year's presidential election, Anchundo was forced to use an adjacent office that happened to be vacant to unload and check the volume of ballots coming in.

"The office we're in now is a big hit on my budget, and it's not just big enough to accommodate this new era in voting," Anchundo said.

The county's Public Works Department is moving to the new administrative building on West Alisal Street, opening the space for other county uses.

Anchundo as well as Thoma and Karnes acknowledged that the move might be inconvenient for Monterey Peninsula residents who must conduct business with the elections office in person.

That office is now at the southern edge of Salinas on Highway 68. The new one will require Peninsula residents to drive into the middle of Salinas.

The Board of Supervisors will be asked today to allow some "cosmetic improvements" to the old public works structures and to authorize county officials to terminate its lease with the South Main Street landlords.

If approved, the elections office will move to East Alisal Street soon after the November elections.

"With a little red, white and blue paint, we'll be ready to go," Anchundo said.