State NAACP, Dems want to see plans for new touch-screen voting machines

By Chris Joyner    Jackson Clarion Ledger    09 August 2005

Mississippi Secretary of State Eric Clark told a group of civic leaders Monday putting touchscreen voting machines in every precinct in the state is the best way to ensure secure and accurate elections.

But not everyone is buying the sales pitch.

The state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Mississippi Democratic Club are asking to see details of a $22.5 million contract with Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems.

State NAACP President Derrick Johnson objects to Clark's plan because the Diebold machines do not produce a paper record of each vote. Some experts have questioned the machines' security, he said.

"We adamantly oppose the (use of) Diebold machines," he said.

Clark said a panel of local election officials, disability rights advocates and state technology experts reviewed proposals from 10 competitors, eventually choosing Diebold's bid as the best in price and performance from three finalists. Diebold was the preferred choice "by a substantial margin," he said.

Finalists Election Systems and Software Inc. of Omaha, Neb., and Texas-based Hart Intercivic Inc. submitted bids of $30.3 million and $31 million, respectively.

Clark said he has complete confidence the Diebold touchscreen machine is secure. However, Clark said he will push Congress and the state Legislature for another $2 million to outfit each of the 5,164 machines with a printer to keep a paper record of each vote as it is cast.

"It's a comfort issue," he said. "I don't want anyone to have indigestion over this."

The Help America Vote Act, passed by Congress in the wake of the disputed 2000 presidential election, require states to upgrade their voting machines by 2006. The state has received $28 million in federal funds to modernize its election system.

Ann Williams, president of the Mississippi Democratic Club, said her organization wants more information about the bidding process. So far, the state has stymied that request on grounds the contract contains private corporate information about Diebold, she said.

"I wish we knew what the other proposals were," Williams said. "I wish we knew what the Diebold contract looked like."

Johnson and Williams noted the California secretary of state last month rejected the Diebold machines after they were tested in mock elections.

Under Clark's plan, counties have until Aug. 19 to join the state program and get the machines for free or take a cash payment and come up with their own plan for compliance with the law. So far, 28 of the 82 counties have said they will be part of the state plan.

Under the plan, counties will receive the new machines based on a formula of prior voter turnout. Johnson said the plan will force counties to buy additional machines. with their own money.

Lexie Elmore, a Pike County elections supervisor, said her office estimates it will have to spend $200,000 to purchase at least 50 machines over the 75 allocated under the state formula.

"The taxpayer is going to have to bite the bullet on that one," she said.

Pike County has not decided whether to join the state plan, Elmore said.