Law requires addition of new voting machines
By Kevin Ryden    Olney Daily Mail    20 September 2005

Although the county started using a new voting system earlier this year, the federal government is requiring all counties in Illinois and around the nation to have new machines installed in precincts by next year's election.

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was enacted in 2002, allocated $98 million to Illinois, which is supposed to be distributed to the state's 102 counties for touch-screen voting machines, a supplement to the Accu-Vote system.

The touch-screen machines, each costing $5,000, will be required at every polling place in every precinct. One machine will be required at each polling place.

County Clerk Mike Buss said there are 15 precincts in Richland County. 
  
There would be a cost of $75,000 for 15 machines. The grant through HAVA is supposed to pay for all the machines.

"I can't help but say I don't see how they're necessary," Buss said of the machines.

They provide a paper trail and give a voter a receipt.

They are supposed to be available for voters who are disabled, but Buss said the current system has worked fine. Accu-Vote is one of the simplest systems to use, he said, and he was told by several disabled voters that it met their needs.

"They were very well pleased with the new system," he said.

The county was initially supposed to apply for the grant for the machines by Sept. 30. However, the clerk's office was notified Sept. 8 by the State Board of Elections that it is allowing jurisdictions to wait to purchase the machines until approved by vendors.

Buss said this is the second phase of funding for new voting systems throughout the nation.

The Accu-Vote system replaced the punch-card system during the April 5 consolidated election. The system cost $100,000, but the county received a grant from the state for $71,000 and another grant for $4,400 for training election judges and demonstrations.