Counties unveil new vote machines

Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark stood before a bevy of TV cameras and supporters Tuesday, saying county residents were about to undergo "a revolutionary change" in how they vote.

Clark's office received 220 electronic voting machines this week, the first shipment of an eventual 3,800 machines that election workers hope will eliminate the mistakes that marred the November 2000 presidential election.

The machines were unveiled at a Republican Party meeting Monday, and elections officials will display them at the sprawling Top of the World retirement community today. The machines also will be taken to movie theaters, grocery stores, high schools and retirement homes. Hill & Knowlton, the company running Pinellas' voter education program, also will focus particularly on precincts where many votes were miscast in 2000.

In Hillsborough County, voters will get a chance to test their new touch screen machines at University Mall on Fowler Avenue today. The event, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Center Court, is the formal kickoff for the county's voter education campaign, said Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Pam Iorio.

"This is the first change in voting equipment in 26 years in Hillsborough County, so every voter will be a first-time voter," Iorio said. "It's very important that we reach as many voters as possible before election day so that they can try this new equipment."

But beyond the hoopla, a sobering reality looms: the clock is ticking. There's still a dizzying amount of work to accomplish in Pinellas before the machines are used the first time in Clearwater's March 12 city election.

Among those tasks:

Training poll workers how to use the $14-million in computerized, touch-screen equipment.

Redesigning the county's Web site so users can learn how the machines work.

Carting the machines around Clearwater to teach the city's 60,000 registered voters how they work.

None of this has been scheduled, and the election is a mere eight weeks away. But Clark and other public officials say there's no reason to worry.

"We'll be on a fast track, but we'll be able to do it by March 12," Clark said.

Cyndie Goudeau, the Clearwater city clerk, agreed.

"If we start too early, people will forget," she said. "I'm not worried about it. I think we'll be ready."

Clark and executives from Hill & Knowlton plan to meet with Goudeau this week to set a voter education schedule.

Ron Bartlett, account supervisor for Hill & Knowlton, said the county wanted to acquire the machines before setting the schedule. Many places the county plans to take machines are routine events, such as spring training baseball games, or require little planning, like demonstrating machines at malls and community centers.

"We'll be in the community a lot, and there are plenty of obvious events that we'll go to," he said.

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