Northpinellas: Voting machine makers try to woo panel

Cutting-edge electronic voting machines cost more, but they're a better choice for Pinellas County, say members of a committee charged with finding the best machines for voters.

Committee members haven't voted, but after spending last week testing five companies' voting systems, most members favor touch-screen machines to cheaper optical scanners.

"Our job is to recommend what system is best for the citizens," said County Judge Patrick Caddell, committee chairman. "Cheap is not always best. It's too important to be driven solely by the price tag."

Committee members could pick a company as early as Tuesday to recommend to commissioners, who will then make a final decision in October.

Price has been a pivotal issue for the county. Commissioners set aside $15-million in next year's budget for the machines. But when faced with substantially raising property tax rates, commissioners slashed the amount to $6.7-million and said they would, if necessary, finance the rest of the cost.

Optical scanners, which read paper ballots marked by voters, would cost Pinellas about $3-million. But the five proposals for high-end machines that allow voters to pick candidates by touching computer screens (or, for one company, buttons beneath the screen) range from $9.4-million to $15.5-million.

Touch screens, members of the Voting System Evaluation Committee said, are easier to use, especially for disabled voters.

"It's the way of the future," said committee member Lois Crittenden, a longtime poll worker.

The machines also offer less room for error, Caddell said. He pointed out that in some Florida counties, optical scans had error rates similar to the punch cards that turned last year's election into a chad-filled nightmare.

Touch screens won't let voters pick more than one candidate and tell voters if they skipped any races. Chads -- pregnant, dimpled or swinging -- are not an option.

Optical scanners reject ballots that carry multiple votes in a single race. But they won't count votes unless ballots are marked correctly and with the right color pencil or pen.

Even touch-screen machines leave room for mistakes. Voters can walk away from a machine without pressing a final button that records their ballot. Some companies would solve that by having election observers press the button; others said those ballots might have to be discarded.

Caddell discounts the problem. "Anybody who's used an ATM ought to be comfortable with any of these systems," he said.

Committee member Jack Humburg, a consultant on providing access to the disabled, said touch screens are clearly the choice for disabled voters, and offer far more privacy and independence than other systems. Still, none of them offer all the flexibility he wants.

"There wasn't a single system that I felt met my expectations," he said.

All the touch screens had optional headphones with audio recordings that give blind voters instructions and candidates' names. Still, most systems would require disabled voters to get help at some point -- a fact that displeases Humburg.

The week ended with no clear favorite. The seven committee members named features they liked about almost every company, but nobody said there was a company that was head and shoulders above the rest.

Election Systems & Software and Sequoia Voting Systems carry an advantage because state voting officials have approved their use in Florida. The others are being reviewed by the state elections office, but approval might not come before commissioners pick a company.

"We've got lots of choices," said Joan Brock, a committee member and deputy election supervisor. "We're going to have to sit back and look at our notes, and consider what's good for the voter, and what's easiest for the poll worker."

Committee members also are looking at a host of other factors, from how big and heavy they are to the quality of their operating software and how much training and help the companies will offer Pinellas poll workers.

Then there are the little things. Hart Intercivic's machine features an American flag that waves after each ballot is cast, while the president of UniLect Corp. said that if the battery in one of the company's control units died, it could be re-started with jumper cables, just like a car.

The companies use different approaches to ensure people only vote once.

ES&S calls for poll workers to load a new ballot for each voter by inserting a key about the size of an Altoids mint box into the company's touch-screen machines. UniLect Corp. would require a poll worker to activate each unit from a central precinct computer. Global and Sequoia issue "smart cards" for voters to plug in themselves, while Hart issues voters codes to punch in.

Before Tuesday's meeting, committee members must wade through a sea of spin. Each company arrived with a raft of salespeople, eager to impress with hours of claims that sometimes conflicted.

"You might want to go with the biggest bull in the pasture," said Hart's Bryan Finney.

Maybe so. Pinellas could use the machines for decades, so choosing a big company with a secure future would be a plus.

But which bull is the biggest?

Hart said its partnership with heavyweight Dell Computers makes them the biggest. But the day before, ES&S officials said they supply machines to most of the nation, making them the biggest.

And after that, Global Elections Systems officials talked about how their company is being bought by multinational Diebold Inc., making them . . . the biggest.

By Friday afternoon, Judge Caddell started joking about inviting the companies back for encores.

Committee members got some sympathy for the task they face.

"How do you guys listen to five companies who say nothing but how great their system is?" said UniLect president Jack Gerbel. "It's difficult."

To make things easier, Gerbel brought a chart that compared the companies.

Of course, he gave his company straight As.

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