Current voting system favored in area counties

By KAREN NELSON    South Mississippi Sun Herald   02 August 2005

PASCAGOULA - Jackson County is leaning toward keeping its voting machines that scan a paper ballot into a computer rather than dumping the relatively new system to go with what the secretary of state is offering.

Secretary of State Eric Clark plans to spend millions of federal dollars to buy touch-screen computer voting machines for every county in the state that wants them.

But for counties like Jackson County, that have relatively new and federally acceptable systems, he will reimburse the county for that expenditure rather than give the county the new touch-screen machines.

In Harrison County, Circuit Clerk Gayle Parker recommended to supervisors Monday that they also keep their current voting machines. She said her main concern is that the new machines don't have paper ballots as a backup if something goes wrong.

She also said other states have experienced problems with the Diebold touch screen voting system.

"... We are concerned that the Diebold system continues to be technically troubled, plagued by reports of problems ranging from programming errors to paper jams, screen freezing and slow performance for multiple page-long ballots," she said.

Parker said the county's current scanning system could be upgraded for about $150,000 to meet federal standards that go into effect in January.

Jackson County supervisors met with the election commissioners Monday and looked at three options.

One was to keep the scanning machines the county bought in 2002 for about $350,000, take the state reimbursement and use it to buy 45 touch screen or handicapped accessible machines for each voting area and the software needed to connect the county to the state for voting results.

The second was to go with the 216 free state machines from Clark, try to sell the 2002 scanners and use the money to buy 60 to 100 additional touch screen machines to supplement because the number Clark would give Jackson County would not suffice for the number of voters.

The third option the county is looking into would be to keep the scanners and ask Clark to give the county 45 touch screen machines just to accommodate the handicapped. Those machines would interface with the state. There would also be some reimbursement.

Supervisor Frank Leach said the biggest issue with voters who have contacted him is that they want a paper record of their vote. That's why the scanner machines are still so popular. He said he believes voters may not trust a touch-screen machine where the vote is taken into a completely electronic, computerized system.

Supervisor Manly Barton said he liked the third option presented because it might be the best way to recoup some of the money the county spent on voting machines.

But the election commissioners said they have not presented the third option to Clark or negotiated the details of it yet.

They told supervisors that they would complete the research and make their recommendation at the Aug. 8 board meeting. Clark has given the counties until Aug. 15 to decide.