Sunday, February 13, 2005 — Time: 11:29:24 PM EST

County sticks to scan switch

By TOM GIAMBRONI, Journal Staff Writer

http://www.morningjournalnews.com/news/sto...new02news14.asp

LISBON - Columbiana County is sticking with its decision to switch to an optical scan voting system, despite recent challenges to the decision of the Ohio Secretary of State.

The county Board of Elections last Monday chose the Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software to supply the new optical scan voting system. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell had given election officials in Ohio's 88 counties until last Wednesday to choose one of two optical scan systems, which reads marks voters make by pen or pencil on paper ballots.
Since then, state Attorney General James Petro issued an opinion saying Blackwell lacked the authority to order counties to use one type of voting system. Election officials in Franklin County had requested the opinion.

Petro and Blackwell are both expected to seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2006.

Following Petro's opinion, judges in Franklin and Portage counties issued orders blocking Blackwell from enforcing his deadline. This was based on lawsuits filed by election boards in those counties, who said the Petro-Blackwell dispute should be resolved before the counties pick a vendor.

Columbiana County was one of 83 counties to comply with Blackwell's order by the Feb. 9 deadline. County election board director John Payne said the recent developments willl have no affect on their decision "as far as we're concerned."

"The board made its decision, and ES&S is a responsible firm that has been around for years," he said.

Blackwell has said the optical scan voting system is the only affordable option with the money available to meet the federal requirement that all voting systems produce a paper receipt for voters to check their ballots. The new systems must be in place by 2006 or Ohio risk losing its share of federal funding earmarked by Congress for the purchases.

Payne said ES&S' system "satisfies everything."

All of the counties were given the chance to view the optical scan systems under consideration at the secretary of state's winter conference held two weeks prior to the deadline.

Payne said it is too late to change anyway because they want the optical scan system in pace for the November 2005 election. There is a 22-week period for the manufacture and delivery of the new system, which will take them until July or August.

"That's a tight schedule because we still have to educate the voters on how to use the system," he said.