Board requests more equipment

By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Board of Elections took time off from complications in certifying the November election to ask county commissioners for more equipment next year.
First on its list of needs presented during a budget hearing Monday are 75 more Diebold touch-screen voting machines and accessories needed to run them. The electronic machines were used for the first time by county voters in November.
Kelly S. Pallante, elections board director, said each machine costs $2,700, and each machine also has to have additional devices such as paper rolls and canisters to hold the paper rolls.
The elections board had purchased an extra 10 machines when the original order was placed, but that did not leave much of a cushion for machines that did not work and needed to be replaced, election workers have said.
The $2 million voting system was purchased with federal money funneled through the state, but the county will be responsible for the additional costs.
State requirement
Pallante told county commissioners that state law requires a ratio of one voting machine per 175 voters. She said the current number of machines puts the ratio at one machine per 186 voters. The additional machines are needed to comply with the law, Pallante said.
Another need is $50,000 to purchase carts or some other type of storage system to hold the voting machines when they are brought into the board of elections office after the election. During last month's election, the machines were set on the concrete floor, making it difficult for employees to retrieve the memory card from them containing the voting information.
Pallante said additional money will also be needed to pay for more training for the 1,100 poll workers and alternates for this spring's primary election. The training would add $27,500 to the elections board's budget.
Pallante said poll workers make a base pay of $85 to $95 for working election day, depending on whether they are a judge or presiding judge. She would like to pay them an additional $30 to $45 for their training, she said. In 2005, the training for the new touch-screen voting machines was paid for with state grant money, Pallante said.
Overall, the elections board is asking for about $500,000 more in 2006 compared to the 2005 budget of $1,242,139.
In terms of capital improvements, Pallante said she would like to stay in the present building at Youngstown-Warren Road and Eastland Avenue rather than move, but the former supermarket building needs new doors and windows.
Certifying results
The elections board will meet at 9:30 a.m. today hoping to certify and release official results of the Nov. 8 election.
Pallante said that won't happen today if the Ohio Secretary of State's office doesn't act before the meeting to break two tie votes. The ties regard the counting of provisional votes.
Some races hinge on the outcome of those two votes, including the Warren 3rd Ward race now being led by Democrat Andy Barkley over Republican George Brown by one vote. That race and five others are close enough to require an automatic recount, which will not begin until after the results are certified, Pallante said.
runyan@vindy.com