Study Aims to See if O.C.’s Ready for Electronic Voting

Supervisors on Tuesday ordered a sweeping examination of the county’s ability to pull off problem-free elections, an assessment that will determine whether Orange County is ready for an electronic, paper-free voting system.

Such a system could cost the county $30 million to $50 million. Riverside County used the paperless technology in the November election, and county supervisors in Los Angeles are exploring the high-tech voting process themselves.

Rosalyn Lever, Orange County’s beleaguered registrar, said she welcomed the assessment, which includes having two outside consultants review her department’s overall capability. Depending on the findings, the earliest Lever could ask for a new voting system is in four months.

“There is not a system in the country that is 100% free of problems,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who called for the review.

Spitzer, who had said he was disturbed by election-day problems in Orange County and the late shipment of absentee ballots, said it was time for an “open and frank discussion” about the state of Lever’s department.

With the nation absorbed in Florida’s voting problems, county supervisors indicated the time was right to explore improvements in how voters cast ballots in Orange County. Most supervisors say they are willing to consider a new, electronic voting system provided it guarantees accuracy and has an audit trail. The trail feature is something Lever has recommended.

In the recent elections, Riverside County used a $14 million touch-screen voting system for the first time, a process that worked flawlessly until it was discovered the system didn’t have the capacity to count all the ballots. The system shut down with 10% of the ballots yet to count.

Orange County, as it has for 16 years, used punch-card voting machines, a system that Lever said is accurate but “old and slow.”

As to problems in the November election, Lever said staff reductions in the wake of the 1994 bankruptcy have made preparations increasingly more difficult, partially because of the growth of the county’s voting population.

Despite a 40% staff reduction, Lever said her office this year monitored the recruitment and training of 6,700 election volunteers, established 1,677 polling sites and provided 292,000 absentee ballots--60,000 more than in any prior election.

Also, Lever said her office had to grapple with elections in the newly incorporated cities of Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Woods.

Latino leaders Tuesday reiterated election-day problems in Spanish-speaking precincts that included polling places running out of provisional ballots, voters turned away from the polls and other irregularities.

Leaders from the Latino community documented the incidents in a report they offered supervisors.

Without rancor, speakers such as Amin David, who spoke on behalf of Orange County Community Forum, said they want community groups and Latino leaders included in the board’s discussion and decision-making committees.

“We would like to offer our cooperation,” David said. “We are prepared to work with you with this goal.”

The Latino leaders seem to be pulling back from earlier statements when allegations of voting irregularities were initially made. At that time, a coalition of Latino and labor groups called for a U.S. Justice Department investigation.

However, Steven Reyes, a Los Angeles attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, made it clear to the board the charges brought before them by forum speakers “were serious.”

“Surely this is not an intentional act,” Reyes said. “But there may have been a discriminatory effect.”

A host of forum speakers, including elected officials from Santa Ana schools, said that in 1,275 telephone surveys to predominantly Latino voters, 260 had reported some type of voting “incident.”