Old county election problems ending; new ones begin

 
By Paul Ferguson    Portage Daily Register    10 August 2005

After recent elections marked by troubles with ballot-counting machines, Columbia County is scrapping its system.

And as it happens, the possibility of a new county system coincides with the new federal elections mandates of HAVA, the Help America Vote Act of 2002. As a result, municipalities across the county may be taking on more responsibilities of running an election in the future.

Clerks from 21 municipalities saw demonstrations Monday from two firms that produce ballot counters, according to Columbia County Clerk Jeanne Miller, who said many of the clerks favor purchasing individual counters for their town, village or city.

That would mean Columbia County abandons the central-count system it's been using since 1990, Miller said. It's been a system that, thanks to problems with "reader head" lights and other machine malfunctions, has caused plenty of pre-election stress for Miller since she took office in 2003. 
 
 
Under the new system, municipalities would count their own ballots and simply report vote totals to the County Clerk's Office the night of an election, rather than leaving ballots in Portage for the county to tabulate on two central machines.

"I was surprised," Miller said of the general reaction favoring local counts. "I thought I would have more opposition from the clerks."

But then again, the counters tabulate quickly. And clerks from far-flung places such as Columbus wouldn't be forced to drive to Portage late after polls close, she said.

A local shift in ballot reading is in line with the federal HAVA legislation requiring that elections officials be able to determine voter intent. That wasn't possible under a central count, Miller said.

"By the time the ballots come to the county, there's no voter around," Miller said. With the new counting system, however, voters would get the chance to re-vote if a ballot registered as an "undervote" for no candidate or an "overvote" for too many candidates.

"To the local voter coming in, I think it would be a good thing, and they can be assured the ballot they cast is a good one," Portage City Clerk Marie Moe said.

Municipalities would need to pay for their counters, Miller said, but there could be funding help available. By the time the next county budget would take effect, Miller is hoping for about $90,000 to be available for ballot counters, which she proposes to split among the 35 municipalities in the county to subsidize their equipment purchases. That's about $2,500 per municipality.

The state is covering the cost of new voting machines for disabled voters, which covers other requirements of HAVA.

The cost to the county could be substantial, however, Miller said, considering the software, upgrades and training to be provided to municipalities.

For some small communities, the cost of a new counter can be a burden, even with county help.

"It's hard to justify that cost," Pardeeville Village Clerk Katie Frederickson said. Pardeeville has budgeted about $4,000 for ballot readers, Frederickson said, but that figure is outside the low end of the $4,500-$6,000 price range for just one of the machines being considered.

Columbia County would also purchase two ballot counters, one for testing and another for backup in case a municipality's breaks down. But those probably wouldn't operate during elections, and Miller said elections would require much less work from her office if its primary requirement would be amassing vote totals wired in from around the county.

Voter lists take time

Although the county clerk's office would have a lighter load conducting elections, the lead-up to the spring primaries on Feb. 14 will still be hectic in bringing Columbia County online with a statewide voter registration system, another requirement of HAVA.

States will be required to maintain central voter lists under the federal law, but Wisconsin law didn't require communities to maintain such lists except those over 5,000 in population.

In order to help towns, villages and small cities comply with the law, the state is encouraging small municipalities to enter agreements with larger cities or counties for the larger governments to maintain voter lists. Of 35 municipalities, Columbia County is entering "memoranda of understanding" with 29 of them, Miller said.

That will mean entering data for some 30,000 voters countywide. Miller's staff will start training this week and perhaps begin entering voter data, and in February every municipality will have its own poll list.

"This should be a big factor in eliminating fraud," Miller said. "It will prevent people from doing it as often or trying to do it," even though she didn't consider Columbia County a likely spot for voter fraud.

Entering information for thousands of voters, however, is "quite a time commitment on the county's part," Miller said. The data needs to be entered by September or October so the statewide system can undergo testing and tweaking before coming online in December, Miller said.

There are out-of-state independent contractors available to enter data, but Miller said local governments know their areas better and can correct errors on the spot rather than go through the hassle of changing them later.