Voting upgrades worry counties

By Jim Carroll    GoErie.com    11 October 2005

MARIENVILLE The fall political campaigns are just heating up, but county officials in northwestern Pennsylvania already are worrying about 2006 elections.

More precisely, county officials in the region are worried about the voting machines that will be used.

A federal law enacted after the Florida voting problems in the 2000 presidential election calls for counties to retire their lever-voting machines and punch-card scanners and replace them with high-tech machines in time for the 2006 primary.

And not only must counties purchase the machines in time for the primary, they also must find time to train election workers and familiarize voters with the new equipment.

County officials attending the Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission meeting on Friday at the Bucktail Hotel in Marienville said they are concerned the undertaking will push their backs to the wall.

Compounding the problem is the fact that state officials have yet to decide which of the machines on the market to certify. That could send county commissioners and council members shopping for machines without knowing which the state will approve.

"This is a big concern not only to us, but to counties across the state," said Morris Waid, the Crawford County commissioner who serves as chairman of the Northwest Commission board.

Waid said Crawford County officials have had three companies come in to demonstrate their machines' computerized functions, and said features and costs vary.

"They all have to be able to handle five languages," Waid said. "But the computers in some of them can handle as many as 16 languages."

To meet the deadline, counties must order new systems by the start of 2006 to get federal money to help pay for them.

"I'm uncomfortable about ... requiring us to put in a purchase order before the end of the year," said Erie County Councilwoman Joy Greco. "We need to see some kind of track record."

Mercer County Commissioner Brian Beador said counties could be put in the position choosing a voting system without knowing whether the machines ed will ultimately prove to be of the highest quality at the lowest price.

"I can foresee a lot of political backlash coming out of this,"Beador said.

Timothy Fulkerson, director of marketing and constituent services for COSTARS, which is a new-shared purchasing program run by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, called the issue an "albatross around the neck" of county commissioners.

Fulkerson brought up the subject of voting machines in explaining the COSTARS program to commission board members.

"We have 13 vendors (of voting systems) that counties can talk to, but none of them have been certified yet," said Fulkerson, a former mayor of New Castle.

Fulkerson said the COSTARS program enables municipalities, fire departments, school districts, agencies and nonprofit organizations to go together and buy in bulk. He said that saves money on everything from furniture and office supplies to food, fire equipment and other goods including voting systems.

The program also allows local companies that already do business with those municipalities and agencies to sign up to participate in the program as suppliers and vendors.

The savings, Fulkerson said, can be substantial. He said fire departments that participate have seen a 32 percent reduction in the cost of some types of equipment.

Fulkerson urged county commissioners and council members to start communicating and talking about voting systems. He said that if a number of counties can decide on one system, they might be able to buy together and get a better price.

Fulkerson said there are questions as to whether voting-machine manufacturers would be able to make enough machines and train election workers in all the states in time for the 2006 primary.

Greco said she did take heart at one point of Fulkerson's presentation. Fulkerson, in reply to a question from Greco, said if the new voting machines were not put in place for the 2006 primary, the law would not require them in the general election. The switch would then be pushed to the 2007 primary.