County rejects new state computer touch-screen voting system
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
By JOHN SURRATT

PASCAGOULA Jackson County will not be a part of the statewide touch-screen voting systems planned by Mississippi Secretary of State Eric Clark.

County supervisors voted 3-2 Monday to keep the county's ballot scanning system that was bought last year and to supplement it with a system called "Automark" for handicapped voters to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. 
 Help America Vote, or HAVA, as it is called, was passed in the wake of the voting problems during the 2000 presidential election to make it easier for Americans to vote. Clark has advocated putting all counties in the state on a touch screen, computerized system and has signed a contract with Diebold Corp. to supply the scanners.

Counties have been given until Friday to decide whether to participate in the statewide program, or use their own HAVA-approved system.

Acting on the recommendation of the county's election commissioners, the supervisors decided to keep the current ballot scanning system and add the Automark System, which uses a computer touch screen, but prints a marked ballot that is run through a scanner to record the votes.

Election Commission Chairman Ben Sanford said the plan would give the county a HAVA-approved voting system with the least impact on the administration of an election.

"It makes it easy to administer the election and it's easy to train the poll workers, because they are familiar with the system," Sanford said.

"The Automark Systems will be easy for the workers to operate. All they have to do is set up the screen, and turn the key and run a ballot through the machine."

Sanford added that the commissioners' plan was supported by the county Republican Party and the Moss Point-Jackson County NAACP.

"The Moss Point-Jackson County NAACP is concerned with any action that may adversely affect voter participation," Moss Point-Jackson County NAACP President Curley Clark said Monday afternoon.

"Here in Jackson County we have experienced very few problems with our existing voting machines. They are relatively new and HAVA-compliant. They have proven to be both dependable and accurate. Also. The voters are becoming more and more comfortable with their use. We feel that their continued use will encourage voter participation."

"All I want is to do what the people in my area want and I want to make sure we have something on paper ... I want a paper trail," Supervisor Frank Leach said. "If the results are contested, have the paper ballots to back up what it is."

Supervisor Robert Norvel, who opposed opting out of the state system, referred to a letter from Clark in which he said the Diebold system would have a paper record of the vote.

Board of Supervisors President Manly Barton, who also opposed opting out of the statewide program, questioned whether the county should keep the current voting system.

"We've all looked at this issue for a long time," Barton said. "There are valid reasons for going either way."

But he said the county may find itself at a disadvantage later by not going with the computerized system now.

"I just believe that we could find ourselves behind the other counties," Barton said after the vote. "Another board in later years will have to deal with this and we may have a problem adapting if we opt to change to the computer system later."