Friday, November 22, 2002
The elections board agreed to budget money for the conversion, just in case the state can't help with the undertaking.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County voters can expect to be presented with a new way of voting in the next few years.
New federal election laws are compelling counties to do away with its decades-old system of using punch cards to register votes, county elections Director John Payne said Thursday during a meeting of the county election board.
The federal effort is part of a move to modernize the nation's voting procedures in the wake of the compromised 2000 presidential election.
The new federal regulations require that counties convert to electronic voting systems, Payne explained.
Columbiana County has at least two options. One is to change to touch-screen monitors, in which votes are registered by touching parts of a video screen corresponding with a particular name or issue.
The other is to use an electronic voting machine in which the voter moves a cursor to highlight a candidate or issue and then presses a button to register his or her vote.
Payne said he expects the county will have converted to one of the new systems by the November 2004 general election.
Estimated cost of the conversion is $1 million, he added.
Who's paying for it
The federal government is willing to pay for 95 percent of that cost, and the state is expected to chip in the remaining 5 percent.
Payne noted, however, that the state's funding crisis may prevent it from being able to contribute its 5 percent share.
For that reason, Payne asked the election board to approve including $50,000 in the election department's 2003 budget request.
The amount equals the state's 5 percent share of a $1 million conversion. The county money would be used only if the state couldn't contribute.
The election board agreed to the plan.
Payne said additional federal money will be available to help train election board employees in the use of the machines and to educate the public about them.