Herbert finishes voting machine pitch

By Arrin Newton Brunson
Special to The Tribune
 

LOGAN - His ambitious campaign completed, now Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert will just have to wait for the final tally as county officials decide the best way to comply with the 2002 Help America Vote Act.
   ?My goal is to have all 29 counties on board. I believe that will happen,? Herbert said Friday afternoon while wrapping up a three-week tour to sell officials in all of Utah's county seats on a new Diebold electronic voting system, specially equipped with a verifiable paper trail.
   Officials of Cache and Rich counties heard Herbert's pitch Friday at the Cache County Administration Building in Logan.
    Although county commissioners have the option to a provider independent of the one awarded by the state, Herbert made an offer that may be hard to refuse.
   ?The recommendation is Diebold TSX. If you pick that, I'll buy the equipment and give it to you,? he said. ?If you pick Brand X, then you're on your own.?
   For Cache County officials, the decision is a no-brainer. The reward for electing to cooperate with the state's plan is nearly 400 free machines, worth $1.27 million.
   This solution will bring the county into compliance with Congress' Help America Vote Act requirement to get rid of punch cards and replace them with electronic machines by Jan. 1, 2006.
   Cache County Executive Lynn Lemon said he admired electronic voting systems even before the controversial 2000 election in Florida - for the real-time results, interfacing with a centralized database of registered voters and increased accuracy. That doesn't mean everyone is completely satisfied with the state's plan to purchase 7,500 Diebold AccuVote TSX machines.
   Complaints, which Herbert said are ?just a part of our democratic process,? have increasingly made headlines throughout the state and nation as the vote act deadline nears.
   Papers jamming, screens freezing and other snafus make some taxpayers wary of banking too much on the machines, which Michael Cragun, Utah's elections director, said will cost approximately $3,200 each.
   There probably will be some bugs to work out, as there would be at the onset of any major change, Herbert said.
   ?I believe to my core that this process was pure,? Herbert said. ?There's a lot to like.?