TRUMBULL COUNTY Punch-card voting machines to be mothballed

Lakeview's school levy still lost, by only two votes.
WARREN -- After 25 years, the clattering machinery that reads punch cards to count Trumbull County votes is one pace away from its finish line.
The county's Election System & amp; Software "Votomatic" equipment will be used in the August special election for the last time, assuming delivery of a new county system is on time.
The ES & amp;S system was purchased in 1980 and fired up Tuesday for a free recount of the Lakeview schools levy.
The vote totals remained 1,764 for the levy and 1,766 against. This followed the machine count and also a hand-count of 3 percent of the vote. Cortland Precinct H was randomly chosen for the hand count.
"There was no change in the outcome of the election," elections Director Kelly Pallante told Mary Williams, Lakeview's levy committee chairwoman.
"It's done," Williams responded.
Lakeview's five-year, 3.5-mill additional emergency levy to generate $948,000 annually will be on the Aug. 2 special election ballot.
Other items on the ballot
Also on that ballot is a Girard schools bond issue and tax levies to pay the local share of school construction under the state's facilities assistance program, acquire real estate and maintain the facilities. There would be 2.4 mills to generate the principal amount of $5.44 million to be repaid over 28 years; 0.5-mill for 23 years; and 2 mills for 28 years.
After the August election, the ES & amp;S System is to be retired in preparation for a new Trumbull County system that is planned to be in place for the November election. That touch-screen voting system will leave a paper trail but a computer card will be used to tabulate the votes. Absentee votes will be optically scanned.
"There will be no more punch cards," said Rokey Suleman II, deputy elections director.
The elections board last week chose Diebold Election Systems of North Canton as its vendor for new touch-screen voting equipment. The contract is for five years. The federal government, through the state, is paying about $2 million for the county's new voting system.
Lakeview's recount had a brief moment of drama when the card reader detected an error on a punch card that had been improperly placed into the voting stand by the voter. It had already been counted as a null vote, and was again.
"It appears the card was put in backwards," explained Craig Bonar, an elections board member. "It was an undervote before, and it will continue to be."