Questions raised over plan to buy voting machines that improve accessibility

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
By Joe Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Allegheny County officials gave a mixed message yesterday to people with disabilities who want greater access to the voting process.

Tim Johnson, director of the Department of Administrative Services, said the county is working to reduce the number of polling sites that are inaccessible to them.

But at a meeting of the city-county task force on disabilities, Johnson stopped short of endorsing a request to allow people with disabilities to inspect new voting machines the county plans to purchase to ensure they are accessible.

County Councilman John DeFazio, D-Shaler, who also attended, said he was inclined to support the request. But DeFazio, who chairs the county Board of Elections, questioned how much input he would have in the decision.

Paul O'Hanlon, an attorney who co-chairs the task force, said after the meeting that county officials appeared to "have a hard time hearing we want to be involved."

Kevin Evanto, a county spokesman, said later that any voting machines the county purchases will be accessible to people with disabilities. Members of the public will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the machines, but only after the county buys them, he said.

The Department of Administrative Services and the Board of Elections will have input into deciding which machines will be purchased, he said, as will County Council, which must approve funding.

The estimated cost for the machines, related equipment and training is $15 million to $20 million, he said, with the federal government paying about two-thirds of the cost and the county paying the rest.

Johnson said Allegheny County hopes to make a decision on purchasing the machines by Dec. 31.

The county can only purchase those that have been approved by the Pennsylvania Department of State, but as of yesterday, the department had certified only one vendor.

Though he declined to give a timetable, Johnson said the county has developed a plan to reduce the number of polling places inaccessible to people with disabilities. About 248 of the county's 1,314 sites are inaccessible.

He said the county has analyzed the inaccessible sites and plans to focus on those whose access problems can be readily addressed.

Sites that need more extensive efforts to make them accessible might need to be relocated, he said.