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Be it by lease or by purchase of new equipment, most agree the punch card must go.
By LUCY MORGAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 2, 2001
DAVIE -- Florida should look into renting better voting equipment to get through the 2002 elections, then consider buying advanced technology for the future.
An elections task force appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush reached that tentative conclusion Thursday as they discussed the options available to get the state out of a punch card voting mess that made Florida a laughingstock during last year's presidential recount.
State elections officials say the state should be able to lease optical scan machines for about $20-million for the 41 counties that need them, but would have to spend at least $40-million to buy the equipment, which soon might be outdated with the development of new touch screen technology. Many officials see touch screens as the best long-range solution.
The optical scan system allows voters to color in a bubble on a paper ballot, similar to the way lottery players pick numbers. The system would include counting machines at every precinct that would immediately reject any ballot where a voter attempted to vote for two or more candidates in a single race.
If state officials should attempt to go to a more sophisticated touch screen system that operates like many automated teller machines, it would probably cost at least $100-million, the task force was told.
But Paul Craft, the technical director for the state Division of Elections, suggested Thursday that Florida might want to lease elections equipment for the 2002 election while developing a new statewide system before the next presidential election in 2004.
Craft said no touch screen system has met Florida's standards, and only one manufacturer has filed an application for approval of a system. Although touch screens are used in a few areas, Craft questioned whether any touch screen system could be ready for statewide use in the 2002 election.
Vester Clontz, chairman of the Elections Board in Burke County, N.C., urged the task force to consider a touch screen system used in his county and questioned the tentative vote taken to lease optical scan equipment.
"It seems to me the jury has come to a verdict before the witnesses were heard," Clontz said after praising the Unilect Patriot touch screen system.
Craft and several others also questioned whether enough optical scan ballots could be printed to meet the demand likely to arise in Florida and other states considering the system. Florida has a bigger problem than other states because of the short time between its first primary, runoff and general elections.
That prompted several task force members to suggest moving primaries to spring or summer or eliminating the runoff primary, but the task force voted against the suggestions, 8 to 6. Other questions were raised about touch screens in the wake of a newly completed academic study that suggests the error rate for the systems is about the same as the error rate in punch card systems.
Optical scan systems that include machines that reject overvotes generally have an error rate of less than 1 percent, while punch cards used in the last election had error rates of around 4 percent.
Craft said his first choice was to leave punch card systems in place for the 2002 election while working on a long-term solution, but that suggestion was vehemently rejected by members of the task force.
"If the ultimate result of this task force would be to recommend we take no action on punch card ballots, we'd make a serious mistake," said Sen. Daryl Jones, D-Miami, a member of the task force.
Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor David Leahy told task force members he'd have to stay in Broward County if he suggested keeping punch cards. He said he prefers a touch screen system that can handle multiple languages and ballots.
The task force also heard from Fred Dickinson, director of the State Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, who admitted his agency needs to do a better job of training employees who register voters as they get drivers' licenses.
The commission has heard from some witnesses who complained that some who registered under the "motor voter" law tried to vote and were turned away because they were not on voter lists.
"I don't think we have a broken system," Dickinson said. "I'm certain some people fell through the cracks, but as a whole, it works. We've registered almost 6-million voters since 1995."
Sen. Ron Klein, D-West Palm Beach, urged the task force to recommend a "Voter's Bill of Rights" that would be posted in all voting precincts to let voters know they have the right to a second ballot if they make a mistake as well as other basic rights, such as help if they need assistance voting.
After hearing from voters in his home county, Klein said he thinks the state needs to get rid of punch cards, create a uniform statewide ballot, do more to educate voters, find a better way to verify military ballots and extend voting hours, among other changes.
Klein also called for establishing uniform guidelines for recounts and prohibiting the secretary of state from participating in political campaigns. Secretary of State Katherine Harris has been widely criticized for serving as an co-chairman of George W. Bush's campaign in Florida.
Klein said he believes the state should share the cost of buying new elections equipment in counties with punch cards or other outdated systems. He suggested using some money from candidate filing fees to finance new equipment and seeking federal money to subsidize some of the cost.
The task force meets again in Jacksonville on Tuesday to consider a final draft of recommendations slated to go to the governor and Legislature by March 1.