Southfield to unveil optical scan voting

System eliminates punch cards, promises error-free balloting, speedier results.

By Delores Patterson / The Detroit News    28 August 2005

 SOUTHFIELD Southfield will unveil its new optical scan voting machines Monday as part of an Oakland County initiative to streamline elections and create a more reliable system of counting ballots.

The city was able to secure a $368,000 grant to purchase 57 machines and software that will be used for the first time during the Sept. 13 primary.

Filling in a circle to elect a candidate to office will be just like taking a multiple choice test in school.

"I think people are really used to that type of a system because most have experienced that type of ion process in their primary education," said Southfield resident Jeff Mifsud. "So I think there are going to be fewer errors with a new voting system in place, and in time hopefully we'll see whether it also increases voter turnout, which is lacking across America, because it's so simple to do."

The change comes as a result of the 2000 presidential election and the controversy over dangling chads the bits of punched-out material that are supposed to be discarded during punch-card voting.

The problems prompted the federal government to offer billions of dollars to states willing to overhaul and upgrade their voting systems. In 2002, the Helping Americans Vote Act was signed into law by President Bush. It says federal money will be withheld from any state that opts for a punch-card voting system, no matter how well designed.

Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land officially adopted optical scanning voting as the new state election system in October 2003, when about 65 percent of the state was using the machines. Michigan hopes to have a uniform system by 2006.

Instead of punching holes in cards, Southfield's 62,000 registered voters will now color in a circle and feed their ballot into a tabulator.

It will immediately tell them if an error has been made, rejecting the card if citizens have either over- or undervoted in a particular race, Southfield City Clerk Nancy L.M. Banks said.

"It will give you the option of either getting a new ballot or accepting it, causing the machine to only read the races that have been voted on properly," she said.

Each machine will print a receipt validating the vote, which creates a paper trail in the event of a recount. The system is also easier because the candidate's name is on the page that residents vote on, so they don't have to turn a piece of paper and then look at a card to find a corresponding number, she added.