Voting machine accuracy still in doubt

By Doug Abrahms, Gannett News Service
January 16, 2004

WASHINGTON — After the Florida election debacle in 2000, politicians vowed to modernize the nation's voting system.
But as the presidential primary season kicks off this month, the bulk of the $3.9 billion Congress promised to states to buy new voting machines has yet to be handed out. And the commission set up to help states reduce election problems was only confirmed by the Senate in December and still lacks office space and computers.

As a result, progress has been hodgepodge. Many voters will use the same punch-card and lever machines as in 2000. Some voters will use new touch-screen election machines, but aren't confident they'll be any more accurate.

"I don't think (Congress) realized the time frame of what it would take to get all this implemented," said Charlie Daniels, Arkansas secretary of state. "Anytime you rush into something and try to do something overnight, you have a tendency to make mistakes."

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 was designed to restore confidence in elections after flaws were exposed in outdated punch-card and lever voting machines in Florida, where George W. Bush won by 537 votes out of nearly 6 million recorded. The law calls for states to upgrade their voter registration databases and balloting equipment by 2006, although the original intent was to be ready for the 2004 elections.

By dragging its feet, Congress has delayed states from buying new, more accurate equipment, said Kimball Brace, a Washington consultant on voting systems.

"I think it's safe to say that you haven't seen wholesale shifts at the state level yet," he said.

Arkansas, Ohio and at least 10 other states decided not to change their punch-card and lever machines until after the presidential election because of uncertainty about both federal funding and equipment standards, according to Electionline.org, a nonprofit group studying election reform.

Places that have installed new equipment, meanwhile, are running into problems:

• In Fairfax County, Va., 10 new electronic voting machines locked up in the Nov. 3 election causing county Republicans to question the vote.

• In Solano County, Calif., the more than 1,100 new touch-screen voting machines aren't yet certified for use in California's March 2 primary, leaving little time to install the machines and train poll workers.

• In Broward County, Fla., Oliver Parker lost a special election in January for a state House seat by 12 votes. Touch-screen machines used for the first time produced 137 blank ballots even though the House seat was the only race.

"I find it too difficult to believe that people would go and not vote," Parker said. But the ballots couldn't be checked because the machines didn't generate paper receipts.

DeForest B. Soaries Jr., the new head of the Election Assistance Commission, said little research has been done on the failure rate of voting technology nationally.

He doesn't expect any serious voting problems this year, but fixing the flaws will take longer than Congress expected, he said. And he is frustrated at not having enough money and time to provide guidance on voting issues.

"I think there is a direct correlation between these issues and voter turnout," Soaries said.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit that nearly postponed the recall election for California's governor in October, said it could go to court to hold up elections in Ohio, Florida and Illinois to halt the use of punch cards.

California's punch-card machines, used more often in poor and urban neighborhoods, created a double standard because they miscount more votes than electronic alternatives, said Laughlin McDonald, director of the group's voting rights project.

"If a jurisdiction continues to use the punch cards, they are definitely inviting litigation," McDonald said.

On the other hand, groups have sprung up to challenge new touch-screen voting equipment that doesn't give paper receipts. Some question whether a voter's ballot actually was counted or if hackers could tamper with the computers' results.

California and Nevada officials decided late last year that their electronic voting machines must contain paper receipts based on concerns over security and accuracy. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., introduced a bill last summer requiring electronic machines to produce paper receipts.

Kevin Zeese, who helped found the Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland at his kitchen table in Takoma Park, said his group has gained 600 members since starting in September. The campaign is trying to persuade Maryland's government to require paper receipts for its new touch-screen equipment.

"Without a separate, independent paper trail, there's no way to recapture those votes," Zeese said. "I think we have to have a way to be confident that the vote was counted accurately."

© 2004 Gannett News Service