Stores veto demo of new vote machines

Home Depot cites safety concerns. Albertsons says the demonstrations would violate their store solicitation policies.

By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 14, 2002

Home Depot is splashing ads across TV screens these days promoting its support of America's Olympic athletes.

But apparently educating America's voters doesn't have the same cachet.

Home Depot and a handful of other Tampa Bay businesses have refused to allow local officials into their stores to demonstrate the new touch screen voting machines that Pinellas and Hillsborough voters soon will use.

"I guess there's patriotism and then there's patriotism," said Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch. "You'd think they'd want to be as helpful as possible."

Companies say the demos would violate no-solicitation policies, while county officials argue that the demos aren't soliciting.

The machines will make their Tampa Bay area debut in Clearwater's city election March 12.

In Pinellas, Albertsons joined Home Depot in saying no, while all the Hillsborough County malls but one told county officials there they couldn't display the machines on a succession of Saturdays leading up to the county's primary in September.

"If they don't think they have any civic responsibility, then at this juncture we don't have time to teach civics to them," said Pinellas County Commissioner Calvin Harris.

Pinellas Commission Chairman Barbara Sheen Todd said she was disappointed.

"Educating American voters is critical," she said. "I would think that stores would be anxious to do what they could to cooperate with their communities."

Hillsborough officials said several malls told them they would have to pay to rent space if they wanted to display the machines.

"The malls may very well have some very good reasons for it, but this is such a very useful thing for the public to be able to try out these voting machines before the election," said Pam Iorio, Hillsborough elections supervisor.

Both counties had to buy computer touch screen machines to replace their punch card machines, which were disgraced in the 2000 presidential election recounts.

Now they're hauling the machines to civic club luncheons, festivals, ball games and neighborhood meetings, trying to make sure residents know how to use them before election day. In Pinellas, Publix and Target have said yes, as did University Mall in Tampa.

By late Tuesday, Albertsons corporate officials were reconsidering. But a Home Depot spokesman said outside organizations, no matter how noble, are a hazard to customers toting around lumber.

"I know citizen education is a grand cause, and I subscribe to it, but we've really had the rule in place for a long time," said Don Harrison, spokesman at the chain's Atlanta headquarters.

Harrison said the home improvement chain used to allow civic groups to come to the store.

"We tried to be all things to all people -- the Boy Scouts, the Brownies, the Salvation Army," he said. "The front of our stores started to look like a bazaar. It became a safety hazard."

Harrison said the policy has nothing in common with the chain's Olympics effort. The chain employs dozens of world-class athletes and gives them time off and flexible schedules so they can train and compete. Over the years, the chain says their athletes have won 76 Olympic and Paralympic medals. The most recent: Derek Parra's silver medal this week in speedskating.

But Joan Brock, the county's deputy elections supervisor, said the county only needs "a little nook somewhere" to demonstrate the voting machines.

"We certainly don't want to cause any problem," she said. "I'm sure there's some place around there. Up by the returns counter . . . I would think there would be room."

Brock said elections workers talked to store managers at the Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard locations of each store and were turned down. They are disappointed but hope corporate officials will change their minds, Brock said.

Albertsons officials first said that the demos probably would be fine after all, then that they would run afoul of the Idaho-based chain's no-solicitation policies. Final answer: They're not sure.

"Our team is going to look into it," said corporate spokeswoman Jeannette Duwe.

In Hillsborough, WestShore Plaza said elections officials were asking for too much mall time, while an International Plaza official said the request never came to her.

A spokesman for Citrus Park Town Center and Brandon TownCenter said the request did not meet the guidelines for community outreach of the malls' parent company, Urban Retail Shopping Centers of Chicago.

"The focus of the mall is a retail shopping environment for the family," said the spokesman, Jim Frankowiak.

-- Staff Writer Bill Varian contributed to this report.

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