Voting machine issue divides Carteret leaders
August 30,2005
JANNETTE PIPPIN
Jacksonville DAILY NEWS STAFF

BEAUFORT - There has been a triangle of e-mail messages, letters and telephone conversations in the weeks since the Carteret County Board of Elections announced it no longer intends to use its electronic voting equipment.

Carteret County Manager John Langdon sees it as a lot of words with few clear answers. The time has come, he said, to talk about the issue face to face.

"We need to get in a room together and get things on the table," he said.

While no meeting had been set as of Monday, Langdon said he supports the idea of a joint meeting between the Carteret County Board of Elections and county Board of Commissioners. The meeting would also include N.C. Board of Elections Executive Director Gary Bartlett.

Langdon said the letters and e-mail messages raise new questions and don't always answer others. He said having everyone together at once could help resolve some concerns.

"Let's get a sit down. This has been a confusing and frustrating process," Langdon said.

There has been debate over the Patriot Electronic Voting equipment the county purchased from California-based UniLect Corp. since the November 2004 election, when 4,438 votes were lost due to a mishap involving the storage capacity of unit used during early voting.

The county's three-member Board of Elections voted along party lines in July to abandon the UniLect equipment, with Democrats Harry Rivers and former chairman Ed Pond casting the affirmative votes. Pond, who made the motion to no longer use the UniLect equipment, called it a first step in restoring public confidence in the voting process.

Republican Sue Verdon opposed the move. She said the problem was a human programming error and the machines shouldn't be abandoned before the county knows more about the state's new voting equipment guidelines.

The decision left the county with options of either renting voting equipment for this fall's election or conducting an election using the traditional hand-counted paper ballot. Earlier this month, the elections board, which now has Democrat Bill Henderson as chairman, decided by another split vote to use paper ballots, which is believed to be the least-cost option.

While Langdon isn't disputing the decision to use paper ballots this election, he still has questions about abandoning the UniLect machines.

"As far as our machines, I believe they have been trashed by innuendo," he said.

Langdon continues to support a demonstration of the UniLect equipment through a mock election. While the state has denied the request for a state-sponsored examination, Langdon said it's important to establish the credibility of the machines.

For one, Langdon said, it could help the county determine if it's feasible to upgrade existing equipment. If the equipment is shown to be credible, he said, an upgrade may be a less-expensive way of meeting new requirements for voting equipment.

Under new state legislation, all voting equipment used in North Carolina will have to comply with new state and federal regulations by any election in 2006.

Henderson said there are other factors to consider.

Vendors who want to do business in North Carolina will have to submit proposals to have their equipment certified by the state. At this point, that process is just beginning, and it's still uncertain what vendors will be certified.

Henderson said he supports the idea of the joint meeting between the county and local and state election officials, but he said a meeting right now may be premature. He said it may be more beneficial to wait until the state has announced what voting systems are certified.

"There will be more options to be laid on the table once the state makes public their list," Henderson said.