Course backing new touch-screen voting machines 
  
By: Kyle Martin    Greenwood Commonwealth    09 August 2005

Edward Course, chairman of the Leflore County Election Commission, is recommending the county accept the state's offer of Diebold Election Systems voting machines.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to make a decision on purchasing the machines on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

"We feel that this machine is secure enough that the integrity of the election can be checked," Course said Monday at a board meeting.

All states are required by the 2002 Help America Vote Act to their voting machines by January. Mississippi has entered an agreement with Diebold for touch-screen voting machines.

If the county opts in with the state's plan, it will receive 56 voting machines at no charge, according to David Blount, communications director with the secretary of state's office in Jackson.

Counties that opt out from the Diebold plan will still receive federal funding to their systems, but must purchase their own equipment. If Leflore County opts out, it is estimated the county will pay $195,000, after the state's allowance of $89,600.

Extra machines can be purchased, at a cost yet to be determined, Blount said.

Monday's recommendation follows a month of collecting and evaluating information from the Secretary of State's office, Course said.

Each voting machine is independent of the others. People can't hack into the machines because they are not connected to the Internet. Also, the memory cards are resistant to tampering, Course said.

"The integrity of the voter is secure," Course said.

The commission paid special regard to the machine's record- keeping abilities in the event of a recount, Course said.

The new machines will not require booths. Instead, large visors will rise on either side to shield the screen, he said.

Course also explained that a voice feature can be used for the blind and illiterate.

District 3 Supervisor Otis Abron said he tested the machine, and he personally enjoyed the feature which enlarges the ballot screen.

Abron explained that instead of lock boxes containing paper rolls, the memory cards will be taken to the courthouse.

Board President Robert Moore, District 2 supervisor, asked Willie Perkins Sr., board attorney, if the county could return to its lever machines if the county was not satisfied with a voting machine purchase.

Perkins explained there would be no going back. The lever machines do not meet the standards of the 2002 law.