Voting machines may be replaced
State secretary of state looking into voting system used for Pueblo elections.
By MARGIE WOOD
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN    06 December 2005

Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis could require 10 counties including Pueblo to replace their voting machines after problems that were observed in the Nov. 1 state election.

Pueblo County Clerk Chris Munoz said she has confidence in the voting system called Optech III-P Eagle, which she has used since 1998. A hand recount ordered by Dennis for absentee ballots that were mailed into the clerk's office resulted in minor changes that did not affect the outcome of any issues on the ballot here, she said.

But in two other counties among the 11 that used the Optech equipment, recounts did change the winner in two close races. In Salida, Ron Stowell thought he'd lost to Hugh Young for a city council seat by three votes, but the recount gave Stowell the nod, also by three votes.

In Clear Creek County, a school district ballot issue lost by 18 votes in the recount, after passing by 6 votes on election night. The county clerk there, Pam Phipps, said 97 votes had not been counted on election night.

"I have no confidence in the machines, and we're looking to have them replaced," Phipps told The Denver Post.

Dana Williams, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said Dennis wants "assurances from the manufacturers that there won't be any problems next year."

Munoz said the machines she has work well in the precinct polling place, where voters mark their ballots with pencils supplied by the judges, feed them into the machine and then can correct their ballot if there's a problem.

The problems arise with mailed ballots, where the voter may have used a colored pen or erased a line, and made the ballot illegible to the machine that will try to read it in the clerk's office.

Munoz said the manufacturer does offer upgraded equipment now that will read different colors, and that might be a good idea for counting mailed ballots.

She flinched at the thought of how much it might cost to replace all the machines, but said she hopes a total replacement wouldn't be required.

"The impression I got when we did the hand recount was that we probably would be allowed to use the old equipment in the precincts," she said. She was required to do the hand count only for absentee, mailed ballots.

States and counties already are facing major changes in voting and voter registration laws under the Help America Vote Act, which takes effect for 2006 elections.