Voting Reforms Join Race for Funding

Revelations about unreliable voting equipment and election procedures used in many places throughout the country have prompted lawmakers here and in state capitols to propose myriad ways to fix the system.

But in numerous financially stretched counties, officials must weigh buying new machines against upgrading jails or funding schools. And some of the proposals do not seem to offer enough money to make a major dent in the cost of pricey new voting equipment.

“Our biggest problem is finance,” said Margo Herndon, election administrator of rural Unicoi County, Tenn., which uses 900-pound lever-action machines built during the Depression. They are difficult to move and maintain and provide no paper voting trail.

Nearly one-third of all counties still rely on lever and paper-ballot machines, technology developed in the 19th century, according to Election Data Services, a private consulting firm. Serious problems have arisen with these machines.

At the same time, election experts said that overhauling the entire system nationally would cost as much as $9 billion. That is at least 27 times the sums being proposed by members of Congress.

The scrutiny caused by the Florida election debacle is likely to produce some low-cost changes involving such procedures as absentee ballots and election recounts. But it appears that less change may be in the offing than reformers’ rhetoric suggests.

“Anybody who says it’s not going to happen again in four years is leading you down the primrose path because four years is a very short time to make substantive improvements in the process,” said William Kimberling, deputy director of the Federal Election Commission’s office of election administration.

In the weeks since Nov. 7, members of Congress have put forward a flurry of proposals for election reform commissions, a special committee on elections, investigative hearings on various topics and legislation to spur investment in new voting technology.

“I hope we can seize the moment here,” said Scott Harshbarger, president of Common Cause, a citizen lobby group that backs federal investment in new election equipment. “There is a fundamental civil rights question at stake.”

But despite the apparent momentum, enacting anything could prove difficult. Congress is sharply divided. The new Senate may be evenly split between the parties and the House will be nearly so. What is more, the two parties historically have warred over almost all facets of voting, from voter registration to absentee balloting to polling hours.

The 1996 congressional race in Orange County between Democrat Loretta Sanchez and Republican Robert K. Dornan, in which Dornan unsuccessfully contested Sanchez’s election, is a case in point. Dornan alleged that noncitizens illegally cast votes in the election. A House investigation found that 743 noncitizens had voted but that this was insufficient to change the outcome.

That race underscored one area of partisan conflict: Programs that Democrats tout as encouraging new voter participation are sometimes attacked by Republicans as susceptible to voter fraud.

“Voting is always a partisan issue,” acknowledged John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

Nonetheless, Hastert wants the House to weigh in. Feehery said the speaker has proposed a select committee on elections to examine what happened this year and how to prevent future blowups. Other lawmakers want to seek greater uniformity and consistency in the system without imposing on the states’ constitutional role overseeing elections.

Reps. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) and James A. Leach (R-Iowa) have proposed a 12-member bipartisan panel, appointed by congressional leaders, to review the electoral college, voter registration, mail-in and absentee balloting, voting technologies, polling sites and closing times and ballot design. It would report back to Congress with proposed reforms.

Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), meanwhile, are calling for a permanent commission, with members appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, to oversee election administration. Its duties would include recommending voting-system improvements. The senators want to provide up to $100 million a year in matching grants for states to invest in new technology.

“As we move into the 21st century it is inexcusable that the world’s most advanced democracy relies on voting systems designed shortly after the Second World War,” McConnell said.

Others want to spend more. Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) propose a national study of voting systems and $250 million in federal matching grants for states. Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) proposes $325 million in voting-system grants.

But those sums would only go so far. The FEC’s Kimberling said that a new estimate for retooling voting equipment in the nation’s 180,000 voting precincts is $9 billion. Even if such funds were available, it would take years for manufacturers to meet the demand.

In North Carolina alone, modernizing every precinct would cost at least $80 million, said Gary Bartlett, the state’s election director. “I just don’t think the amount of money to do it right will be available,” he said.

Some of the larger localities are not waiting for federal assistance.

In California, Secretary of State Bill Jones has called for various election-system changes and $230 million in state funds for counties to update voting technology. Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) has proposed a $300-million package to upgrade the system.

Los Angeles County officials are considering spending $100 million to replace their punch-card machines with high-tech voting technology.

But, for smaller jurisdictions, prospects are less promising.

La Paz County, Ariz., would like to update its 17-year-old punch-card system “but we can’t afford it,” said election director Donna Hale. “It is a matter of not hiring employees or not giving raises or getting a new election system.”

In Unicoi County, a working-class community in northeast Tennessee with many retirees on fixed incomes, the oldest machines date back to 1929 and were made by a company that long ago folded. The county, which has 11,465 registered voters, has contemplated upgrading its 30 working machines but would need to take money from its schools, law enforcement or other services to do so.

So far, the unwieldy relics have performed well, election administrator Herndon said. But, she added, “going into the modern society, having a paper trail is nice to have. If anyone ever had a question, you’ve got that paper trail to look back at.”

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Times researcher Sunny Kaplan contributed to this story.