Election Commission delays decision on voting equipment

BY KATE WARD Northwest Arkansas Times   December 7, 2005

The Washington County Election Commission decided Tuesday to delay its recommendation to the Quorum Court for the purchase of new voting equipment. The commission made its decision following a demonstration of the equipment by a representative of Election Systems & Software ? the company chosen by the state to help voting systems.

Based on the commission?s recommendation, the Quorum Court will decide whether to tally ballots at each polling place using the ES&S Model 100 ? a precinct-based, voter-activated ballot counter ? or continue its current practice utilizing a central counting site with the ES&S Model 650, which would replace the current Model 550.

According to ES&S Sales Manager Craig Seibert, the M-100 Optical Precinct Scanner utilizes a paper ballot identical to what voters are used to. "The only difference is that they it into a tabulator instead of a ballot box," he said. "The advantage is that it tells you if there?s an issue with the ballot. If so, it will stop, beep and tell you what the issue is. If you hit return, it will spit the ballot out and you can start over."

Seibert said voters also have an option of accepting their current ballot as it is, regardless of a specific issue. Sometimes, he said, people over-vote on purpose.

Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the county is required to purchase new voting equipment that is accessible to disabled voters.

Washington County will chose either the ES&S Auto-MARK or the iVotronic Touch Screen Voting System to fill that need at its 59 polling places.

According to Seibert, the iVotronic is a touch-screen voting system. "The ballot is activated by the poll worker," he said. "If a person is blind, they can chose the audio option that walks them through the ballot. If they?re not blind, the ballot will visually appear on the screen."

Seibert said the Auto MARK voting system is $1,500 more than the touch screen option. "The Secretary of State?s office doesn?t believe they can afford the AutoMARK for the counties," Seibert said. "They?ll give enough money to cover the iVotronic, but the county will have to make up of the remaining cost if it chooses the AutoMARK."

The state will allot $559,000 to the county, said County Clerk Karen Combs Pritchard. Then there will be a second round of money, about $40,000 to $60,000, to purchase additional equipment if it?s needed.

Seibert said the AutoMARK features an electronic voice that walks visually impaired individuals through a ballot. For other disabled individuals, the system features a visual ballot. "You can think of this as an electronic pen," Seibert said. "The plus to it is that everyone in the county is voting on the exact same piece of paper."

After demonstrating the equipment to the commission, Seibert made a second demonstration to the Finance Committee. Members of the public were also invited to comment on the demonstration.

The Election Commission reconvened following the demonstration to discuss its recommendation to the Quorum Court. "We?re not under a deadline for the Quorum Court to adopt a resolution," said Election Commission Chairman John Logan Burrow. "The second week in January gives them plenty of time. It also gives us more time to think about it."

If the county chooses to stay with the M-650, Burrow said, the county is required by HAVA to provide adequate voter education. "That?s ridiculous, because they won?t tell us what [adequate voter education] is," he said. "We have no idea how much it would cost."

The commission expressed concern over maintenance for the M-100. "We don?t know how much it will cost for storage, maintenance or transportation," said Tom Lundstrum. "If we stay where we are, we won?t know whether voter education will cost $10 or $10,000."

Combs stated that an advantage to the M-100 is that voters will be able to determine right away whether they voted correctly. "My feeling is, if it isn?t broke, don?t fix it," she said. "Our system was never broken until Florida. If there?s a problem, the commissioners have to determine what they think the voter wanted. If [the M-100] breaks, we still have the paper ballot."

The Quorum Court is scheduled to meet Thursday to make a final decision.