Northpinellas: Touching all the bases

Touching all the bases

Voters try their hand on new touch screen voting machines before the system's first real-time test in March.

By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer

CLEARWATER -- Pearl Moran looked at the candidates on the sample ballot for Pinellas County's brand-new voting machines and laughed.

"I can vote for George Washington," she told Julie Kelsey.

Moran listened as Kelsey, who works for the county elections office, explained how to press each button, how to change her vote and how to review her choices before casting her ballot.

Moran had to press the machine's "review" button twice to make it work, but she pronounced herself charmed.

"They're excellent," said Moran, who tried the touch screens one day last week in the meeting room of the Hamptons residences in east Clearwater. "It's very simple. These will pull us into the computer age."

Like Moran, many voters who have tried the county's new machines give them high marks. The computer touch screens are easy to use and much simpler than punch cards, they said.

But will enough voters get to try them before their first test?

With just over a month before Clearwater's election on March 12, elections officials are racing around the city. They've displayed the machines for citizens to try out at several events so far and have scheduled at least 50 more. That's not counting the machines on display at various government offices every day or the events yet to be scheduled.

"The response has been tremendous," said Deborah Clark, Pinellas elections supervisor. "Some of our voters have concerns when they hear the word "computer.' . . . But once they use it, it eliminates the fear factor."

Several county commissioners said they are pleased with how the demonstrations have done so far. But the time line is tight, and some say more needs to be done. Chief among those: only a few events have been scheduled in minority precincts, even though those areas had the highest proportion of voting problems in the 2000 presidential election.

It's also uncertain whether the state will approve the audio devices that can be attached to machines for blind voters' use before the Clearwater election. And Clark's office Web site won't be updated to tell voters about the machines until after the Clearwater vote.

All county residents will get to try out the machines in the September primary.

At various sites around Clearwater last week, voters praised the machines, saying they're easy to use and a clear improvement over punch cards.

"We won't get into the mess we did last time," said W.W. Carpenter, who lives in the Hamptons retirement community.

On the new machines, voters touch an electronic screen to record their choices. The county bought the $14-million touch screen system from Sequoia Voting Systems in California because Florida lawmakers disallowed the use of punch cards, disgraced in the 2000 presidential election recounts, after September.

Several older Clearwater residents experimenting with the new technology last week had some trouble getting the screen to register their choices at first. Some touched the screen too lightly, had trouble touching the right place, or accidentally brushed a different candidate's name with another finger.

But they were able to make their picks after a few tries, and even most of those who had trouble gave the machines good reviews.

"I think it's a marvelous idea, but I feel the machine is too sensitive," said Jean Gibbs.

"Other than that, it's great," said her friend, Lucy Cantin.

South Clearwater resident Lois Cormier disagreed. Cormier said she has arthritis and found the punch cards easier to handle.

"I had to use my thumbs," she said after trying out the new machines. "That can be a problem for older people. . . . I'm just going to have to get used to it."

Clark said many voters have told her they find touching the screen easier than gripping a punch card stylus. Part of the problem is just for first-time users, she said.

"I have observed that some people don't apply enough pressure," Clark said. "I think they're fearful they'll cause damage in some way. That's why education is so critical to this project."

Clark's office is demonstrating the machines at festivals and ball games, grocery stores and neighborhood meetings. In Clearwater on Election Day, voters at each polling place will be able to use a demo machine before voting. And an extra elections worker will be there to help with demos and troubleshoot any problems that poll workers have with the other machines.

However, few events so far have been scheduled in two city minority precincts, which had a high number of voter errors in the 2000 presidential elections. County officials have promised to make special efforts to educate voters in those areas.

Elections officials brought machines to the city's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration last month, but only a handful of events have been scheduled in those two Greenwood area precincts.

"I think more efforts need to be put out," said Arthonia Godwin, president of the Upper Pinellas branch of the NAACP. "What has been done is not enough."

However, Godwin said NAACP officials have been working with elections officials and local church leaders to set up two demonstrations on Feb. 23, one in North Greenwood, one in South.

Clark said she didn't know how many events were in minority neighborhoods, but that her staff will schedule more events in those areas.

"We're making every effort to get out there, and we'll continue to do so before March 12," she said. "We will be in every area as much as we can."

And Commissioner Calvin Harris, a Clearwater resident who was the county's first black commissioner, said he's pleased with Clark's efforts.

"The supervisor has been doing a great job," Harris said. "Everywhere I have been where people have used them, they've loved them."

Clark's office also is taking the machines around the county. Plans include having a machine at each polling place in other city elections this spring. Voters in those elections will still use punch cards to vote, but will be able to try out a touch screen.

Many civic groups have called the elections office asking for a visit, and many stores have agreed to host the machines. So far, only two companies, Albertsons and Home Depot, have said no, Clark said.

"Maybe we just haven't reached the right person in those companies," she said.

Store managers at a Clearwater location of each store wouldn't discuss the decision Friday. An Albertsons spokesman said he didn't know why the store said no, while Home Depot corporate officials couldn't be reached.

Clark is still waiting to see whether the state elections office will approve audio devices for blind voters. Paul Craft, who directs the state's certifications office, said the state plans to test the device Feb. 25, and that it could be approved in time if it doesn't need changes.

If it's not ready, those voters will need help casting their ballots, as they have with punch cards.

One thing won't be changed before the Clearwater election: the elections Web site.

"What we're planning to do is have an interactive Web site, but there was just no time," Clark said.

The site will be redesigned before September, Clark said, to include a step-by-step guide on how to use the touch screens.

But right now, the site doesn't mention touch screens at all. The biggest headline issues a warning that county voters soon won't need:

"Check Your Chads!"