County may keep old voting machines

Touch-screen models will be available, but Jackson County unsure

The Clarion Ledger     03 August 2005
MOSS POINT ? Jackson County officials say they are considering keeping voting machines that scan a paper ballot into a computer rather than dumping the relatively new system for machines recommended by Secretary of State Eric Clark.

Clark plans to spend millions of federal dollars to buy touch-screen voting machines for every county that wants them.

As of Tuesday, 10 counties want the machines ? Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Leake, Newton, Smith, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Wayne and Yazoo, Clark spokesman David Blount said.

He said none of the 82 counties has said no.

For ones such as Jackson County, where officials have purchased federally acceptable systems, Clark has said he will reimburse the county for that expenditure rather than give the county the new touch-screen machines.

The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, or HAVA, requires all states to replace outdated voting machines by next January. There is $15 million in federal dollars for Mississippi for the machines, but some counties say they will need to spend some money to purchase additional machines.

Clark announced in June the state had signed a contract with Diebold Election Systems Inc. for a mass purchase of electronic touch-screen machines.

Jackson County supervisors met with the election commissioners on Monday to discuss the Diebold system and look at three options.

One option 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 handicap-accessible machines for each voting area.

The second option 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 accommodate county voters.

The third option would be to keep the scanners and ask Clark to give the county 45 touch-screen machines just to accommodate the handicapped.

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.

In Harrison County, Circuit Clerk Gayle Parker recommended to supervisors Monday that they 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.

"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.

Warren County District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders said some on his board have questions, but they have not decided.

"This is so important to me ? I don't want to leave anything to chance,'' Flanders said. Warren County's machines are 15 years old.

Vicksburg resident Mike Doyle said he understands why supervisors are being cautious. "It is an important decision to make,'' he said. "If things go wrong, they will get blamed."

"The touch screen is the wave of the future,'' Doyle said. Still, he would like more information.

Clark has given counties until Aug. 19 to decide.

While some officials raised questions, Blount noted that there are problems with some of the voting machines currently used.