Deadline nears to order new voting systems

Mercer County invites the public to check out the new machines Dec. 1.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA STAFF
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County has used the optical scan system to count the votes in each election for more than 20 years.
The system has been good and bad for the county -- most recently bad when election workers had to work until 5 a.m. the next day this past general election to recount 27 boxes that were miscounted because of operator error.
But by the primary election of 2006, that method of tabulating votes should change.
Elections officials in Lawrence and Mercer counties say they have been busy looking at new voting systems in the last year. They are required, through the federal Help America Vote Act, to have purchase orders for the new systems in place by Dec. 31 or risk losing close to $1 million each in federal aid.
Both counties expect to take that decision down to the wire because Pennsylvania election officials thus far have certified only two voting systems.
Pending certifications
Another six certifications for vendors were still pending as of Nov. 18. Two were denied earlier this year, including the Patriot Voting System by UniLect, which was used by Mercer County up until last year.
Brian McDonald, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said decisions about the remaining vendors will be made shortly.
Vendors must meet 17 state requirements and go through a mock election demonstration for experts hired by the state, he said.
But Mercer County Commissioner Michele Brooks expressed frustration over the state's laxness about certifying the machines.
She said the state should have adhered to a stricter deadline to certify machine vendors.
A Mercer County committee that includes election director Tom Rookie has been looking at the new voting systems during the past year and has narrowed the choices down to four.
The committee plans to have a demonstration of the four from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at the courthouse to garner public input.
But, unless the Department of State acts soon, it won't be clear if all of the machines will be certified for use in Pennsylvania.
Rookie, however, said he intends to recommend a touch-screen voting system.
Official's contention
Rookie said despite problems with the previous Patriot system, touch-screen voting is still preferable to the optical-scan system the county has used in the last two elections.
"It takes a lot of extra people and days and it involves thousands of pieces of paper," Rookie said of the optical-scan system, which allows people to vote with paper and a special pencil and the ballot is fed into a machine that reads the votes.
Rookie said another downside of the optical-scan system is that the new HAVA law requires the votes to be counted at the precinct first and then taken to a central location. This past election the votes were tabulated at the courthouse.
"I do have concerns about putting 100 optical-scan machines out there to be run by 450 people who have never run an optical-scan machine," Rookie said.
McDonald noted that the HAVA law is geared toward pushing counties toward touch-screen voting offering more money to those who opt for it.
Brooks would not say if she is leaning toward touch-screen voting, but said she would agree to buy the most efficient system.
Touch screens?
Lawrence County also has spent the last year looking at new machines and voting methods, said Lawrence County Elections Director Marlene Gabriel. But none of the vendors who visited the county have yet to be approved by the state, she said.
While Lawrence officials say they want to upgrade their voting system, they have concerns about touch-screen voting.
"I was an advocate of the touch screen. I want to move into the future. But after seeing what happened in the last election [in Lawrence County with the miscount], at least we have a paper trail to follow. A lot of counties don't have that," Gabriel said.
Lawrence County Commissioner Dan Vogler also is worried about a paper trail.
"We have a system in place that works very well and have a well-defined paper trail. Why do we have to fix something that is not broken?" he said.
Even though he's frustrated, Vogler said, the county will adhere to the law.
"I realize you've got to move ahead in the world, but something as important as how we tabulate votes -- and can the candidates be assured the system is one that works -- needs to be accountable and reliable," Vogler added.
cioffi@vindy.com