Election Commission will test ballot equipment before choosing

BY DREW TERRY Northwest Arkansas Times   November 11, 2005

The Washington County Election Commission will face a decision this year whether to tally ballots at each polling place or continue its current practice utilizing a central counting site.

Commissioners decided Thursday to schedule a day to examine ballot counting equipment from Election Systems & Software, the company chosen by the state to help voting systems. They hope to have a recommendation ready in December for the Quorum Court.

Judge Jerry Hunton wrote a letter asking the commission to consider the change, which would be funded by federal and state money. The commission obliged the request, though its members prefer the current method. "We?re satisfied; we like the simplicity of it," chairman John Logan Burrow said. "The ballots go out to the county, and they come back and we count them."

Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels announced Nov. 2 the decision to choose ES&S, which has provided election services in the state for more than 20 years.

Counties must the company?s optical scan voting system or the iVotronic Touch Screen Voting System.

The Washington County commission opted months ago to continue using the optical scan procedure. "We think it?s the simplest, cheapest way to run an election with 60,000 people voting in Washington County," Burrow said. "It?s also the system we?re accustomed to and the way the people in the area are used to voting."

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 also required every polling place to feature a form of voting accessible to disabled voters.

Washington County will choose either the ES&S AutoMARK or another Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting system to fill that need at its 57 polling sites.

Those machines will be tested at the demonstration, as well as the ES&S Model 100 ? a precinct-based, voter-activated ballot counter ? and the ES&S Model 650 ? the central ballot counting machine that replaced Model 550 currently used in county elections.

Commissioner Pete Loris recommended the display be informal and allow the public to test the equipment.

Part of the commissioners ? hesitancy to use machines at individual polling places is the potential for mechanical failures.

The commission already will be responsible for ensuring 57 DRE voting machines are operating properly at each election. Switching to the Model 100 would require the body to care for 57 additional machines plus back ups.

Burrow estimated both machines would translate to equipping each polling site with about $10,000 worth of machinery and put even more strain on the election commission staff to upkeep and store the technology. "We?d have to maintain the machines," Burrow said. "They must work perfectly every time and they?ll have to stay locked up when not in use."