Folks get closer look at new voting systems
By Jo Mannies   St Louis Post-Dispatch 08/25/2005

Estelle Polizzi tried her hand Thursday at the various new-fangled voting machines and came away declaring that she didn't care whether she casts her next ballot on an optical-scan or touch-screen device.

"To tell you the truth, I'd take it either way," said Polizzi, 95, as she left with an attendant to return to St. Agnes Home, 10341 Manchester Road.

Polizzi was among close to 200 would-be voters of all ages, and some with disabilities, who cast mock ballots on a variety of voting machines on display at the Meramec campus of St. Louis Community College.

The machines are among those being considered by St. Louis County election officials as they prepare to make a pitch for change to the County Council. Many election officials from the city of St. Louis were also on hand to watch how the crowd reacted to the various devices; the city also is planning to switch systems.
Today, a similar exhibit will be set up on the college's Florissant Valley campus. The public can view and try out the devices from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"Our staff has done a terrific job of putting this together," said county Election Board Chairman John Diehl, beaming as he took in Thursday's crowd lining up to use the machines. "This is going to help us tremendously."

But a bigger hurdle faces Diehl today as he meets with St. Louis County Executive Charley A. Dooley, who has been adamant that the county has no money of its own to pay for new voting machines. He says that any changes need to be covered by the roughly $6 million in federal aid that the county stands to receive if it switches systems.

Spokesman Mac Scott said Dooley was open to alternatives if Diehl makes a case that some systems may be a bit more expensive in the beginning but will save the county money in the long run. Diehl says he may use that argument.

The impetus for the county and other area jurisdictions is the Dec. 31 deadline for complying with the federal Help America Vote Act, which mandates various changes. The act encourages jurisdictions to punch-card systems and provides close to $4 billion to help pay for the switch. Jurisdictions don't get that aid if they retain punch-card systems and would have to use their own money to pay for required changes.

The upshot is that most of the counties in Missouri and Southern Illinois will have changed systems by next year's August elections. Most are adopting optical-scan systems that use special paper ballots that are scanned into computers to be counted.

Touch-screen machines, which operate similar to bank ATMs, are more expensive. Such systems are primarily being considered to comply with the act's mandate that at least one machine must be accessible for the blind and disabled. Federal money is earmarked to pay for those machines.

A group of dissidents with Missourians for Honest Elections distributed leaflets Thursday that raise questions about the cost of the new machines, and whether they could be manipulated to give false voting results.