County says it will keep electronic voting machines
Sunday, August 14, 2005
By NATALIE CHAMBERS    Mississippi Press  

PASCAGOULA Jackson County and Secretary of State Eric Clark are not seeing eye to eye on the Help American Vote Act voting machine project.

The county wants to continue using its M100 Optical Scanner, which is less than five years old and has eight to 10 years remaining, according to election commissioner Ben Sanford. To meet handicap requirements, the county wants to use the Automark Ballot Marking Device for the Handicap.

Clark is touting, and has signed, a contract with Diebold Election Systems to provide touch-screen voting machines that include a voter-verified paper trail. 
 "These voting machines meet all the requirements of HAVA," said Clark.

"We are happy with what we have in Jackson County. It's easy, accessible, people understand it, easy for the poll worker and easy to program. Our system is so much faster, convenient and so much more tested. We've used it here. We're fine with it in Jackson County. It's a great system," said Circuit Clerk Joe Martin.

Martin said the Diebold system is not proven.

Counties that accept the statewide plan 44 have opted-in, including George and Greene counties will receive the new voting machines without cost. Counties that have not signed on include Harrison, Hancock, Hinds and DeSoto.

Saving money and reducing lawsuits lead to George County's decision to opt-in.

"We were gong to have to pay extra money if we went with the other machines. We still have to pay extra money is we want more machines than (Clark) has allotted us," said George County Circuit Clerk James Cochran.

"We did want no lawsuit on our county. We can't afford it. If any lawsuit is filed, Eric is supposed to handle the problems because this is the machine he picked," Cochran said.

Cochran said they delayed voting to see if they could get a machine with a paper trail," he said.

Counties that opt-out are facing conditions and restrictions deemed unfair by Jackson County election officials.

County attorney Paula Yancey contends that the wording of the Voting System Notice of Intent is not in accordance with state statute.

He said Senate Bill 2829 also states that opt-out counties are limited in their reimbursement based upon an objective formula.

Jackson County interprets the statute as giving a county the authority and discretion to determine what is in its best interest and does not require nor penalize a county for non-participation.

At question, primarily, is whether full funding can legally be withheld from counties that decide to opt-out in favor of implementing other voting machines that also meet HAVA requirements.

Clark said counties that opt-out are responsible for:

Certifying specific reasons for opting out;

The purchase, support, maintenance and training on different machines, and be solely responsible for meeting all HAVA requirements;

Defending itself against any potential lawsuits, be it from the U.S. Department of Justice or other activist groups; and

Any federal audits of received HAVA funds.

Under Clark's plan, Jackson County would receive 216 machines for its average election turnout of 41,009 voters. George County's allocation is 35 machines per 6,747 voter turnout and Greene would receive 22 touch-screen per 4,195 average voter turnout.

Yancey said state statute also provides that counties that purchase or have purchased voting systems since January 2001 that comply with the requirements of HAVA shall be eligible for federal funds accepted by the Secretary of State.

"The only restriction that the Secretary of State may place on the expenditure of federal funds for the purchase of voting systems is that the systems comply with the criteria and rules established in the Help America Vote Act of 2002 for voting systems," she said.

"I bet if everybody was on the same playing field and you got the same tax dollars county by county I believe a lot of these counties that feel they have no other choice would be going with Diebold," Martin said.