Cape County receives funds to upgrade voting machines
November 22, 2005
Jennifer Freeze ~ Southeast Missourian

More than $200,000 of federal funds will help Cape Girardeau County complete the upgrade of voting equipment to meet requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

The act was established to improve election administration, especially for individuals with disabilities, and to replace the punch card voting machines after the voting problems in Florida during the 2000 presidential election.

A portion of the funds, $157,700, will be used toward the purchase of accessible machines. These will be touch-screen computer ballots, available specifically for individuals with disabilities.

"The accessible machines will be for people who are blind or with any type of impairment," said Rodney Miller, Cape Girardeau county clerk. "The machines will include Braille and speaking directions as well as microphones. We will be buying one accessible machine for each polling location."

Miller said the accessible machines cost approximately $4,150, allowing the county to purchase 38 of them.

The rest of the funds will be used to help pay for the optical scan election equipment the county purchased last September to replace the punch card voting system. The county commission approved a $194,250 bid to purchase optical scan election equipment from Henry M. Adkins & Son Inc. State funding provided $121,304 toward the equipment, leaving the county footing a $72,946 bill.

"We were allowed to pay that off in three payments," Miller said. Cape Girardeau County still has one payment left; it will be paid off using some of the remaining $50,000 of federal funding.

Preventing over-voting

The optical scan election equipment was purchased to prevent an "over-vote" and gives voters the opportunity to check their ballot for mistakes.

Voters fill in ovals, much like a standardized school test. If the machine detects that the voter "over voted," the machine spits the ballot back out.

The Help American Vote Act requires all counties to replace the punch card voting equipment and have at least one accessible voting machine at every polling location by the 2006 elections.

The optical scan election system makes it easier for the county to count votes, Miller said.