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Punch cards fraught with errors
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 14, 2000 TALLAHASSEE -- The punch card ballot system used in 27 of the state's 67 counties is renowned for producing differing vote totals. The system was tossed out after an election was overturned in Massachusetts, and it has been called into question throughout the nation. "It's the Achilles heel of the voting system," Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning said. Pinellas, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Duval, Palm Beach and Pasco counties are among those that use punch cards. Last week as Tuesday night's election returns were counted and recounted, the numbers changed in almost every county where punch card ballots are used. The 38 counties using optical scanner ballots, a system in which a machine reads stiff paper ballots marked with black ink, had far fewer changes in the total number of votes cast. Two counties -- Calhoun and Union -- use manually tabulated paper ballots. The punch card ballots' changing numbers are generally caused by "hanging chads," part of the stiff cardboard that doesn't always fall completely away from holes punched by voters. Despite the drawbacks, Browning and other elections officials say, the punch card system is better than the old hand-counting system and machine ballots that used to dominate Florida elections. Hand counts are under way in some Florida counties this week. "I don't think the manual count is the way to go," said Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Pam Iorio, a Democrat. "Particularly if it is selective. Either have it statewide or don't have it at all." Browning, who is also a Democrat, recalled the "good old days" of hand-counting ballots and said the system was far less accurate than the machines that count punch cards. Florida should do a machine recount of its ballots and wait for the overseas absentees, which have to be in by Friday, Browning and Iorio agreed. The close race for president has put Florida elections officials under a microscope, even in counties where controversy has not erupted. "It's just unbelievable," Iorio said Monday. "I don't know if I can ever return all these calls. Yesterday at home there was a knock on my door and it was ABC News." The spotlight is falling on a system that has long struggled for money and equipment against unwilling county commissioners who control the purse strings. In addition to calls from news organizations, elections supervisors are besieged by citizens who want to be sure their votes were counted. Although the 67 supervisors report their vote tabulations to Secretary of State Katherine Harris, each county tabulates its own votes on equipment that is purchased by the county. Most of the state's elections supervisors are Democrats. Harris is an independently elected Republican. Many counties have tried to get rid of the punch card systems, which have been banned in Massachusetts and New Hampshire because of voting irregularities. But county governments have been reluctant to cough up the money for new equipment. Iorio estimates it would cost $8-million to $10-million to change equipment in a county as large as Hillsborough, which has almost 500,000 voters. In 1997 Browning asked Pasco County commissioners for more than $700,000 to ditch the punch card system and replace it with a new, more reliable system. "The board made a unilateral decision not to fund it without even hearing from me," Browning said. Browning and Iorio said they would like to look at touch screen voting, a new paperless system. Iorio, president of the association of elections supervisors, and Browning, who lobbies the Legislature on election law, said several elections officials have tried to upgrade their equipment. As a result of the current controversy, state legislators have vowed to provide some state money to help counties purchase new equipment. Some lawmakers are also discussing a uniform, statewide ballot.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times election desk From the AP national wire  |
