Residents can try five voting systems
J.D. Prose,  Beaver County Times Staff
09/15/2005
 
BEAVER - Beaver County residents will have the opportunity next month to test five electronic voting systems and share their preference with county officials.

Elections director Dorene Mandity said the companies will set up their touch-screen voting machines in the second-floor rotunda of the Beaver County Courthouse on Oct. 4 and 5.

All the systems offer full-color, touch-screen monitors, Mandity said. "They all work, generally, the same," she said.

The machines will be available for public review from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 4 and noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 5. Mandity said she expects at least a few hundred residents to test the machines, but she didn't know how many each company will provide.

"I'm hoping they each bring at least two," she said.

Company representatives will also be on hand to answer questions from residents.

Mandity said those who test the machines will be asked which one they like most. "We are interested in what they find the simplest," she said.

Beside ease of use, county officials will also consider cost, company support and software.

The companies (and their systems) invited to the county include: ES&S (iVotronic), UniLect Corp. (Patriot), Diebold (TSX), AccuPoll (AccuPoll), and Advanced Voting Solutions (WinVote).

UniLect made the county's former touch-screen system, also called Patriot, which was decertified by the state earlier this year. The old Patriot system, according to UniLect President Jack Gerbel, offered only a black-and-white screen while the newer version is color.

Counties across the state have until Jan. 1 to buy a new voting system that is compliant with the federal Help America Vote Act. However, counties can buy only systems that have been approved by the state.

So far, only AccuPoll has been tested and certified by the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections. ES&S, UniLect and Diebold are awaiting their test results, and Advanced Voting Solutions will have its system examined Monday.

In light of the decertification of the Patriot system earlier this year, the state has promised to give Beaver County $8,000 per precinct in HAVA funds, slightly more than $1 million, to buy a new system.

County officials have warned the actual cost could be three or four times that amount. Most people involved in the process, though, expect the state to work out bulk purchasing arrangements with companies so that counties won't have to pay millions of dollars for new systems.