New N.C. elections equipment will add step to verify votes

By LAUREN KING , The Virginian-Pilot   September 7, 2005

 

A new state law will require most North Carolina counties to buy new voting equipment by 2006.

 The requirement was approved with the hope that it would help ?restore public confidence in the election process,? by ensuring that voting systems generate a paper ballot or paper record so that voters can verify their votes before officially casting them.

It also provides a backup counting option for local boards of elections, according to a fiscal note attached to the General Assembly bill that was approved this year.

At the Pasquotank County Board of Elections office, that will require the county to buy new machines.  
Since 1995, Pasquotank has used direct record electronic voting systems. The county was the first in the state to use the touch-screen machines , which make it easier and faster for election officials to tally votes on election night, in all of its precincts.

However, the machines do not generate a paper ballot or paper record, as required by the new state law.

?Our voting machines cannot be converted,? said Linda Page, Pasquotank?s director. ?We?ll have to buy new machines.?

To help pay for the new machines, there is some grant money available from the federal Help American Vote Act , Page said.

She said that about $156,000 should be available for the county, but she?s not sure if that will cover all the costs.

The state Board of Elections has yet to determine what kind of voting systems will be approved for statewide use, and that will determine what kind of equipment counties will have to get.

Some counties are not adversely affected by the state decision.

In Currituck County, the elections board already had set aside money to purchase new machines a few years ago when the federal government established new requirements for handicapped-accessible voting. That law required the new equipment to be in place by January 2006.

?Like Camden, we have the optical scan machines,? said Mary Etheridge, Currituck?s director.

The optical scan system uses paper ballots that are scanned into the system when the ballot is cast. While this system could fulfill the idea behind the state?s new law, it does not fulfill the federal requirement that would accommodate voters with special needs, such as those who are visually impaired.

In all, 88 of the state?s 100 counties are using the direct record or optical scan systems that will need to change. The state Board of Elections indicated that counties that still have punch card or lever voting systems were already scheduled to get replacements with grant money.

The new state law, ratified in August, will not go into effect until 2006, so it will not have an impact on municipal elections this fall.