A turn of the ballot

By Aaron Burgin, The Porterville Recorder    25 October 2005

Daniel Fearnside, 9, stepped up to the computer kiosk. After reading several instructions, he was able to cast ?votes? for several mock initiatives and candidates. It took him all but two minutes.

?If a 9-year-old can do it, it has to be easy,? his mother Sandra said as she watched her son nearby.
  
 

The computer kiosk is one part of the future of voting in Tulare County. And as Tulare County Elections Office official Kim Shannon said Monday afternoon, the future is fast approaching - the June 2006 primary elections.

?This is a good switch,? Shannon said about the poll facelift, which also includes a new optical scanning system that will replace the old Accu-Vote machines Tulare County residents are familiar to seeing each election season. ?The idea is to make the voting process less painful for voters.?

Throughout Monday, polling inspectors, chiefs and provisional clerks countywide converged on the local Veterans Memorial Building for the unveiling of the new equipment.

Shannon said polling officials were given the first look in order to prepare the public for the change before they hit the polls in the summer.

?You get to hear about it first so that when it hits the newspapers before voting season hits, you don't have to freak out,? she told about 15 clerks during a Monday afternoon study session.

The electronic kiosks made their debut in an election in Three Rivers last year, Shannon said, with positive results.

Each polling place will be equipped with one computer kiosk during the 2006 primaries, and will primarily service blind or disabled voters.

?But anyone that wants to will be allowed to use it,? Shannon said. ?But for the most part they will still be filling out the paper ballots.?

Several new features of the new optical scanning system, designed by Sequoia Voting Systems, include a feed system that will automatically reject ballots that haven't been properly filled out, and a new ballot that features broken arrows that when filled in represent a vote, as opposed to the old ?oval? ballots.

The machines also include several failsafes to ensure voting integrity, including a key-card system that only allows for a voter's key to be read once.

For poll workers who have complained in the past about the cumbersome process of removing the paper ballots from the machines, the new system was created to be ?user friendly.? Opening a door and sliding a bin removes the ballots, Shannon said.

Some pollsters, however, had questions about the effectiveness of the upcoming wholesale change.

?How are we going to teach people this if they couldn't get the ovals right?? asked Doris Williams, a provisional clerk from Pixley. ?I don't think people are going to wait in line if they don't get it.?

Touch-screen voting has been used throughout the state since the March 2004 primary elections and with mixed results.

A year ago several counties sued to suspend the use of electronic systems and computer kiosks after widespread glitches were reported in the March 2004 elections, according to numerous Los Angeles Times reports.

But Shannon reminded the public that they need not worry about the upcoming special election - county residents have eight months to become familiar with the new system.

?And as you've seen here, a child was able to use it,? Shannon said.

?We're hoping that in the next months whatever issues need to be worked out will be addressed.?