Some officials want a backup paper copy of each electronic vote. Others say a printout later suffices.
By LEONORA LaPETER
Published January 17, 2004
[Times photo (2002): Kinfay Moroti]
Touch screen voting machines like this one in Hillsborough County don't provide a backup paper record of each vote to save for recount.
Last week's special election in South Florida has pumped up a growing debate over whether touch screen voting machines need a backup paper trail.
The House district race in Broward and Palm Beach counties was decided by 12 votes, but 137 people cast ballots without voting for anyone.
Since all but the absentee votes were electronic, a traditional manual recount was impossible. The only paper that could be produced was printouts of the electronic ballots.
That prompted Palm Beach County commissioners to ask the state for the authority to retrofit touch screen voting machines at a cost of $2.2-million so they produce paper ballots that voters can place in locked boxes for use in a manual recount. Palm Beach is one of 15 Florida counties with touch screen machines, including Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Palm Beach this week urged Gov. Jeb Bush to push for paper ballots to ensure that "another national election debacle does not occur."
Supervisors of election across the state say the voting systems already can provide a paper record of each person's vote and oppose spending more money to retrofit the machines.
Many Democrats, however, say a paper backup is necessary to ensure the accuracy of the vote in Florida, center of the 2000 presidential recount debacle. Populex, a Chicago company that sells a voting machine with such a paper trail, demonstrated its equipment at the Florida Democratic Party convention in December.
Still, Republicans, who control the state House and Senate, largely oppose the idea.
"I think there is heightened sensitivity among Democrats because we were the victims last time," said Chris Griffin, a Tampa lawyer who was the regional chairman of the Gore-Lieberman campaign for west-central Florida. "If the roles were reversed, you'd have a reversal in sensitivity. ... The potential problem with these machines is that they lead to a continuation of making elections legal battles as opposed to campaign battles. It's not healthy for democracy."
The issue has become a hot topic across the country.
Florida Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham already has filed a bill requiring a paper backup by the November election. Nevada, California and Washington have either required or will require printers on all electronic voting systems that would create a paper version of each person's vote.
Still, some officials say it is either too costly or too late to start such a system by November.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood warned Graham in December of the "logistical snafu" his bill would cause when only one company makes such a system and it is not certified in Florida, a process that can take two months to a year.
"I think it's doubtful anything can happen before the next election for these systems," said state Rep. Bob Henriquez, a Tampa Democrat and member of the House's Subcommittee on Ethics and Elections. "It comes down to a policy decision and these are tough budget times. I don't see the leadership making this a top priority."
Indeed, Republicans point to the $24-million the state has spent updating voting equipment since 2000 and say enough is enough. Current technology is adequate and counties with touch screens can buy printers, they say, but don't expect state money.
"We truly have come a long way, and so to say the current system is no better than it was four years ago is quite frankly being disingenuous," said Geoffrey Becker, executive director for political affairs of the Republican Party of Florida. "I think Democrats want to try and scare voters and remind them of 2000 and we're four years away from 2000."
Florida has 32,218 electronic voting machines. Fifty-two counties, including Citrus and Hernando, use optical scan systems with paper ballots.
Elections officials say a record of each voter's ballot is created in each electronic machine and can be printed out from a cartridge after polls close.
Pasco Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning said state law does require electronic machines to print paper versions of each vote in a manual recount. But supervisors plan to seek a law that would mandate a printout of an undervote, when someone does not cast a ballot.
That does little to quiet critics, who say there is no way to double-check the system. The voting machines, they say, simply print out the same tabulation over and over. If it's garbage in, it's garbage out.
"There's no way to debate whether the vote is accurate or not, that's what bothers me," said Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Frank, who favors a paper validation of each vote. "The beauty of hanging chads is they were hanging and at least there was a question about it. There's no question here. They just run it back through the machine and the amount of votes are tabulated."
In last week's special House election, the 134 undervotes in Broward represented 1.3 percent of the vote. Runnerup Olive Parker eventually conceded to Ellen Bogdanoff, but Broward elections officials wondered how to do a manual recount without paper.
The debate has not gone unnoticed by equipment companies.
"It's not because it's essential for the accuracy of the election but there are jurisdictions around the country where voter confidence and voter acceptance of the technology is not as accepted as in other areas," said Alfie Charles, vice president of business development for Sequoia Voting Systems, which sold electronic machines to Pinellas and Hillsborough.
"Florida, I think it's at a crossroads right now. Some in Florida are extremely confident and others are not, and the ultimate decision will be up to policymakers in the area to decide whether the added level of confidence is worth the expense."
Sequoia can retrofit machines for $500 each. That translates to $1.9-million in Pinellas and $1.75-million in Hillsborough. Election Systems & Software, which sold Pasco its machines, is developing a prototype. The company has 21,298 machines in Florida.
The GOP's Becker said he doesn't know why Democrats are making it an issue now.
"It seemed to be all fine and dandy two years ago. Now they've changed their tune on that," Becker said. "If they keep down this path, there is the potential of hurting the voters they're appealing to."
