Election equipment reviewed (2/24/04)

They liked their first look at a potential replacement for the current voting system.

But Jay County Commissioners plan to do a little more shopping before making a decision.

Facing a 2006 federal deadline to convert from punch cards to some other approved system, the commissioners and Jay County clerk Jane Ann Runyon began shopping for alternatives Monday afternoon. The first option they saw was a video screen with push buttons that uses smart card technology to store voting records.

They were impressed with a presentation by a representative of MicroVote General Corp. of the company’s push-button Infinity voting system.

“It looked pretty good to me,” Commissioner Milo Miller Jr. said.

Runyon said this morning that if there is enough lead time — about three months or so — she would agree to switch over to a new system in time for the general election Nov. 2.

Although replacing the current punch-card system with the MicroVote system could cost an estimated $237,000, federal grants administered by the state could pay for some — if not all — of that cost.

Steve Shamo, a sales/customer service representative from MicroVote, said that the county also will pay less for ongoing election costs — including the printing of paper ballots at a cost of more than 40 cents per ballot.

“Every four years, you’re spending $70,000 in punch-card supplies. In eight calendar years, we’re going to have this thing paid off,” Shamo said.

Runyon said that because she has to prepare for an election as if every registered voter were going to vote, more than 60 percent of the ballots go into the recycling bin.

Shamo, who said that only four companies in the United States offer approved voting systems, said that Jay County has $67,000 in grants waiting as soon as it signs a contract for a new system. He and Runyon also explained to the commissioners that additional funding also will be released when a federal omnibus spending bill is signed by President Bush.

Following controversies surrounding punch-card ballots during the disputed presidential election in Florida in 2000, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act — in effect outlawing the punch-card ballot after 2004 because there are no elections in Jay County in 2005.

Shamo demonstrated the features of his company’s system, including a plug-in DoubleTalk voice converter for the blind.

Converting to the new system will likely mean slightly longer waiting periods for voters. Instead of 6-10 voting stations per precinct, the projected average number of voting stations at each of the county’s 21 precincts would be about 2.5, with an expected 50 stations expected to be ordered.

Because smart cards are used to store the voting information, a judge at the precinct would step up to the voting station with the voter and insert a card. The judge would then step back until the voter is finished, and then would take out the card.

Commissioners Gary Theurer, Mike Leonhard and Miller, who had expressed concerns about being able to produce a paper trail, heard Shamo say that an individual receipt can be printed for each voter and that tallies can be printed at the machine and precinct level.

Shamo also said that his system enjoys a huge advantage over the punch-card system when it comes to tabulating the votes. Download time per card is about 3 seconds, Shamo said, meaning that the vote for the entire county could potentially be counted in less than 30 minutes.

Shamo recommended the county purchase 50 voting units at $3,350 each, 21 precinct kits (including a printer and voice converter) at $750 each, a central programming system at $50,000 and a dedicated computer at approximately $4,000.

Also Monday afternoon, the commissioners adopted on first reading a stop sign ordinance regulating a potentially dangerous Jefferson Township intersection.

The ordinance, which will take effect immediately, will create a stop on westbound county road 575 South at county road 600 West about a mile and a half west of New Mt. Pleasant.

It is an unusual intersection, with county road 575 South curving to the south and joining county road 600 West. The only stop currently is southbound on county road 600 West.

The commissioners had been asked to make the change by new county highway superintendent Ken Wellman.

Theurer said Monday that one factor influencing the change was increased traffic expected when an equestrian complex built by the Jay County Landfill opens in the next year. That complex on the south side of the landfill property will be accessed via county roads 500 South and 600 West.[[In-content Ad]]