A good compromise

Belleville Post     November 30, 2005

The Board of Freeholders has voted to purchase more than 700 Advantage voting machines from California-based Sequoia Voting Systems. Electronic machines were mandated by the federal Help America Vote Act, and the Sequoias are expected to be in place at Essex County polling sites for the first election of 2006.

This vote was the culmination of nearly six months of public and very often lively discussion among the freeholders, the county commissioner of elections and a group of very active citizens who had banded together as the Essex County Voting Rights Task Force. In the end, the freeholders took a reasonable stand on an issue filled with many conflicting priorities.

By purchasing the Sequoias, the state will reimburse the county 75 percent, or $4.8 million, of the purchase price. That wasn?t true for all machines being considered. The Sequoias currently are in use in 12 of New Jersey?s 21 counties and in 30 states, much more than any other brand. They have a good track record; others had zero domestic experience. And if backup machines are required, the possibility of borrowing machines from other counties is more likely.

The citizen activists felt computer hackers might invade the machines. But that would be possible with all electronic systems. They also wanted a visible paper trail to assure voters their ballot had been recorded, and to provide hard-copy backup if verification were needed. We agree, this is very important. But the contract with Sequoia includes a provision to retro fit, at no cost,  all 700 machines with a paper-trail capacity when the Legislature, which has already voted to require paper trails by 2008, decides upon the criteria.

During the six months of debate, the freeholders appeared to bend over backward to consider all options. They refused to rubber stamp the machines proposed by the county commissioner. They hosted a vendor expo of alternative machines. They appeared to flirt with abandoning the state money just to purchase a machine with a paper trail. And yet, after nearly six months of debate, the freeholders voted to approve the Sequoias just two days after the Nov. 8 election when they were all safely re-elected. We are sure the citizen activists felt they had been strung along until after the election. It sure seems that way to us. But after that long drawn-out investigative process, we came to the same conclusion as did the freeholders.