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electionline Weekly - May 18, 2006


I. In Focus This Week

Pennsylvanians (Mostly) Embrace New Machines in Low-Turnout Vote
By M. Mindy Moretti and Dan Seligson
electionline.org

Electionline.org staffers watched the Pennsylvania primaries from both ends of the state, with senior writer M. Mindy Moretti covering the election near Philadelphia in the east and editor Dan Seligson watching the vote in and around Pittsburgh. Their coverage, spanning four counties and dozens of precincts, follows.

Lehigh County voters put Diebold machines to the test
BETHLEHEM, Pa.-Although there was a bit of a learning curve for some, few problems greeted voters in Lehigh County as they used the DieboldTSx machines for the very first time on Tuesday.

"The machines were great and really easy to use," said Larry Dawley the first voter of the morning at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Bethlehem. "It probably took me a bit longer than normal to vote because the machines are new and the poll workers didn't quite know the process, but who cares, we needed new machines and I'm really happy with it."

Although some county poll workers need some help getting the new machines up and running in time for a 7 a.m. opening, very few problems were reported throughout the day in Lehigh County. Officials were only expecting about a 15 percent voter turnout in the county and several poll workers said the small numbers early in the morning helped them feel more comfortable with the new machines.

In the weeks leading up to the election, the county had worked aggressively to educate voters about the new paperless voting machines. From an informational program on the county's television station, to demonstrations at local malls, to demos on the county Web site, to extensive coverage in the local media, everyone interviewed agreed that it would have been next to impossible to miss that the county was switching to new machines.

Although just because the information was made available didn't mean that all the voters paid attention to it.

"They [the new machines] were great," said Dave McCormick who was voting before work at the Bethany United Church of Christ in Bethlehem. "I hadn't really paid attention to any of the information about the new machines before the election, but the [poll] workers showed me what to do. Even if they hadn't, it's pretty self-explanatory."

The biggest problem voters seemed to face with the electronic machines was when they wanted to write in a candidate. Richard Ewing, who came to vote with his son in the minutes just after the polls opened, had some difficulty with the write-in option.

"I think it was my mistake though," Ewing said. "The poll worker was able to help me and I was able to write in my candidate. The machines are definitely different, but I guess we'll all get used to them."

Of course not everyone was thrilled with the new machines.

"It [voting] went easily enough, but I just don't know if I trust the guy [former Diebold CEO Walden O'Dell] who makes the machines," said Robert Peruzzi of Bethlehem. "You have to put a lot of faith into that machine, but that was always the case. I mean the lever machines didn't have a paper trail either."

No mention was made of recent news reports of serious security flaws in the Diebold system used in the county. Pennsylvania clerks were notified of the potential problem before the election, but said the actual risk of a machine being manipulated by a hacker was low because it would require access to the system that would not be possible.

Still the overall sentiment of voters in Lehigh seemed to be that the new machines were easy to use and in an interesting turn, many voters even commented that they were fun to use.

"The machines are wonderful and actually kind of fun to use," said voter Marion Alexander. "I think they are especially great for old people like me, they are much easier to use."

Chester County voters given choice at polls
Some Democrats urge partisans to pick paper

CHESTER COUNTY, Pa.-While many Pennsylvania counties did away with lever machines on Tuesday, voters in Chester County said good-bye to punch-card ballots and were given a choice of using an paper-based optical-scan ballot or a DRE machine - both provided by Nebraska-based ES&S.

At some polling places throughout the county, members of the local Democratic Committee stood outside encouraging voters to use the paper ballot option.

"When I went in and the poll workers asked me how I wanted to vote, I told them it didn't matter and they suggested I use the electronic machine since it wasn't busy and that would give me time to learn the new system," said voter Cara Graver. "It was perfectly fine and even though someone outside tried to encourage me otherwise, I'm not at all worried that my vote won't be counted."

David Stone spent the day outside a polling place in Ludwig's Corner urging voters to use the paper ballot instead of the electronic machine. Many voters Stone encountered seemed perplexed by his request.

"I just assumed there was some sort of problem with the electronic machines inside," said voter Darryl Brown. "I mean I do feel more confident about using a paper ballot instead of the electronic machine, but I seriously thought he [Stone] told me to use the paper ballot because there was an actual problem with the electronic machine. I don't know, maybe I would have tried the electronic machine if I had known otherwise."

Stone said he and his fellow Democrats chose to encourage voters to use the paper ballots "because the electronic machines don't have a paper trail and there is simply no way to audit them and frankly we don't trust them. There's also the issue that if you take the next logical step, the machines can be hacked as well."

In Birmingham Township, Republican Committee member Mary Evans stood outside a polling place and said there was no concentrated effort by the Republican Committee to encourage people to use one option over the other.

"Personally, I used the paper ballot, but that's only because there was a line for the electronic machine," Evans said. "I tend to be a bit skeptical of computers anyway but most of the people here today seem to be using the machines."

As in Lehigh County, some poll workers in Chester County had some problems opening up polling places, but there were few problems reported throughout the day. Much of that might be chalked up to low voter turnout.

"This is quiet even by our standards," said Rudolph Steinberger, an election official standing outside a polling place in Kennett Square. "It's been so slow here that we've never had a line for either option. Most of the people seem to be choosing the paper ballot, but not all."

Although voters appeared to face few problems throughout the day, the county was slower than usual in reporting vote totals. County officials told The Philadelphia Inquirer that they were running later than usual in reporting because of the new machines and cartridges that held vote totals.

Machine switch met with shrugs and scattered problems
Paperless voting has familiar ring in Iron City and surrounding area

PITTSBURGH - Light turnout, low-interest, uncontested races and a tradition of paper-free voting in Western Pennsylvania made for a relatively smooth roll out of electronic voting machines in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

The two jurisdictions, both of which scrambled to replace lever machines in favor of ES&S "iVotronic" touch-screen systems in time for Tuesday's vote, were training election officials and workers up until the day before the primary. The lack of know-how was at times apparent, as some poll workers in some jurisdictions struggled with aspects of the more complex voting system than the clunky and mechanical lever machines used in the area for five decades.

In particular, roving technicians were called on to help polling place officials print out "zero tapes," or printouts used showing every candidate had received no votes at the start of the day.

Karl Diman, the election judge at a polling place at a church in Murrysville, said he was confused about how to deal with voters who touch the "vote" button on the screen but leave the polling place before they press it a second time to confirm their choices. Left unattended with a vote still pending, the machines beep to alert poll workers and voters that the ballot was not finalized.

"I can't as an election judge cancel that vote, but we were talking about what should happen, what we should do if the voter walks away," Diman said. "We're just trying to tell everybody to make sure they confirm."

In another precinct just a few miles down Old William Penn Highway, Jack Olhoeft said he had to chase down two voters who left without finalizing votes.

A number of voters said they missed the privacy of voting on a lever machine, and worried that the bright electronic screen sometimes facing toward a bathroom or hallway would compromise the secrecy of their vote.

Few, however, shared the concerns that many others in the country have about electronic voting, namely the absence of a method to independently audit election results through the use of a voter-verified paper audit trail.

"It doesn't concern me not having paper. Whether someone has messed with the machine, I assume that's taken care of," said Carl Skena, a Westmoreland County voter.

Margery Berreta echoed the sentiment, saying its time to adopt more modern ways of voting.

"Society has moved on," she said. "We have to move on too."

The confidence in voting machinery in this part of the state was both common and bipartisan. Neither Democrats nor Republicans sounded particularly bothered by the absence of paper, instead convinced that they could "trust' the people running elections.

"You have to trust somebody along the way, and you always did with the machines before too," said Gloria Novak, a Democratic Party ward chairwoman in Pittsburgh. "There has to be a measure of faith in any system."

The relative tranquility of Tuesday's vote did not completely allay fears that there could be challenges when the stakes are raised in what should be fiercely-fought races for U.S. Senate and the governorship.

"Today is going fine, but I'd be surprised if we get 300 out of the 1,400 registered for this polling place," Diman said.

II. Election Reform News This Week

• An amendment to the immigration bill being debated in the U.S. Senate would make it mandatory for all voters to present photo identification before casting ballots in a federal election by Jan. 1, 2008. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced the amendment (S.A. 4021) to The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. The amendment had yet to be scheduled for a vote at press time.

• Election-day troubles in West Virginia were blamed on "human unfamiliarity" with voting machines, a problem that was at compounded by the late arrival of ballots to local clerks, WTRF reported on its Web site.

• Both voters and poll workers in parts of Arizona were confused by the recently-enacted law requiring all voters to show ID before casting ballots, The Arizona Daily Star reported. Some poll workers rejected IDs that included U.S. passports and active-duty military ID cards.

• Maryland election director Linda Lamone said voters should not fear fraud with the beginning of in-person early voting in the state, despite concerns expressed by Gov. Robert Ehrlich that it would open the door to unscrupulous voters casting multiple ballots, The Baltimore Sun reported. Also in the Maryland, a computer expert said the Diebold touch-screen machines used statewide are so insecure that he would not detail the problem lest he risk making hacking even easier, the Gazette Newspaper reported. "I challenge the state board of elections to find a single computer scientist to say that these machines are now safe," Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University said on Monday. ''This is just more justification to get rid of these machines."

• Pennsylvania officials boasted a smooth election in parts of the state using new machines, in one case crediting "a great strategy" rather than low turnout for a relatively trouble-free primary, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Officials in two other counties said they would need to make efforts to "streamline" the process in light of lessons learned during Tuesday's primary, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.