Election official says lever voting machines still OK
By Alison Hawkes, For the Herald-Standard
08/28/2005
  

HARRISBURG - A federal election official said that lever voting machines do not necessarily have to be replaced under the 2002 Help America Vote Act, a departure from what Pennsylvania elections officials have been telling reluctant counties.

Election Assistance Commission spokeswoman Jeannie Layson said states must require that the disabled have the ability to vote, and that machines meet certain auditing and accuracy requirements. But there's nothing in the act saying that decades-old lever voting machines must go, she said. That's a decision for the states to decide. 
"There may be a way that states can continue to use the systems they have as long as they comply with" what's in the act, Layson said.

However, Pennsylvania election officials have told counties and voting rights advocates that lever machines must be replaced in order to comply with HAVA.

"The law explicitly says that lever voting machines have to be done away with," Department of State spokesman Brian McDonald said last week.

Asked to respond to the federal election commission's interpretation, McDonald said Friday: "You're right in the sense that the act itself does not specifically spell out and say these machines are banned. However, based on our interpretation, these machines will not be compliant with what's written in HAVA."

The confusion over HAVA requirements matters, because counties have four months to choose and purchase new electronic voting machines, an endeavor that will take millions of dollars from cash-strapped county budgets, even with an $8,000 per precinct federal donation. About 65 percent of Pennsylvania counties use levers, and the move to electronic would represent the largest replacement of voting machines in many decades.

Some counties, such as Fayette, have balked at what will be an estimated $1.2 million change, noting that their lever machines could still get decades more of use

In Bucks County, where new machines could cost taxpayers at least $6 million, Commissioner Jim Cawley said he hasn't decided yet whether he supports a move to electronic machine, but he wants to know his options. He questioned whether the county could put in one electronic machine per precinct to meet requirements for the disabled, and keep the old lever machines for the rest of voters.

"I am going to be called to make an informed decision, and I need to know what's available and why," he said. "If one of the options possible is keeping the lever machines, I want to know that."

Cawley said he's been asking state elections officials to explain in more detail why lever machines have been disqualified. Several lawmakers have also joined the cause. Rep. Paul Clymer (R-Bucks) said he intends to press Secretary of State Pedro Cortes on the matter at a September House State Government Committee meeting.

"We need to iron that out, and that's why this meeting is so important. Can they keep them or not keep them?" he said.

And Sen. Joe Conti (R-Bucks) said there may be some time in the fall to enact legislation that would allow lever machines to stay.

"I think they're tamper- and fraud-proof - that's their big advantage, as well as their longevity," Conti said. "I don't know what the lifespan of the new electronics are."

McDonald said the department has determined that levers must go because they don't meet federal standards requiring a manual audit capacity. That means, he said, machines must be able to produce a paper printout that counties can use to conduct a recount.

"We feel strongly that levers cannot produce a manual audit capacity," McDonald said.

But, he noted, the state has made this determination because it has, so far, not received clarification from the Election Assistance Commission on what manual audit capacity means.

"We've been waiting for word on a wide variety of issues, and we've taken the standpoint that we have to make our own determination," he said.

Still, other states have determined otherwise. Connecticut has foregone a bulk of federal funding in order to keep its lever machines, after local officials turned their noses at replacing lever machines they said worked fine. Connecticut HAVA coordinator Marissa Morello said the state is using another source of HAVA funds to put an electronic machine in each precinct for the disabled, and is looking into the possibility of using an attachment to the lever machines that will allow the auditing.

"You have a lot of these smaller towns very happy with their levers," she said.

McDonald countered that keeping levers is too risky. He questioned what would happen if the federal elections commission later determines that levers must go, and counties with levers are stuck with no source of federal funding.

Under HAVA, states have to return any money not spent by counties to replace lever and punch card machines. Pennsylvania's total amount of federal funds is $23 million.

"Do they want to run that risk and not look at new systems and the EAC says late this year that levers are not compliant with the act?" McDonald said.