Creative Voting Options Suggested

County leaders should explore touch-screen voting in future elections, enlist the help of minority groups to provide translation at polls and hire at least a dozen additional election workers, the Orange County Grand Jury recommended in a report released Wednesday.

But jurors cautioned against doing away with the county’s current voting system--a punch-card method--saying it works fine and that the cost of replacing the old technology could be prohibitive, running as high as $50 million.

Instead, the report suggests the county consider using the touch-screen system on a smaller scale, maybe as a method of counting absentee votes by placing the machines--similar to ATMs--in malls and other public places.

“This use of electronic systems would be an outreach, providing voters a convenience and the county a testing process,” the report says.

If the system proves effective, the county could begin using the technology in selected precincts, purchasing the system over time, the report suggests.

Rosalyn Lever, the county’s registrar of voters, said the report validates her position that she needs more staff and that the county’s voting system is accurate. She said several of the report’s recommendations are already being scrutinized by another county group auditing her office.

The grand jury’s recommendations come after a review of the November election. Jurors visited precincts, interviewed poll workers on election day and observed the ballot-counting process.

The election was marred by complaints that some precincts didn’t open on time, didn’t have enough ballots and that workers were unable to assist non-English speaking voters. Most of those problems had nothing to do with the county’s voting system but can be traced back to the county’s 1994 bankruptcy, the report concluded.

“The department has operated literally on a ‘shoestring’ budget during the ensuing years with minimal staff,” the report says.

Prior to the bankruptcy, the office employed 48 workers, compared to the current staff of 34 who serve 1.2 million county voters. In Santa Clara County, the same number of employees serve about 718,000 voters.

Some of the grand jury’s recommendations are already being implemented, said county Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who led the push in December for an independent county audit. A report and recommendations from the county study should be completed within three months.

For example, county supervisors have approved the purchase of a new computer-based voter tracking system. Jurors said the current system, which is more than 15 years old, is slow and inefficient.

Spitzer said the jury’s report “corroborates that technology is not the end all, be all.”

“We have our own unique problems in Orange County that have nothing to do with technology,” Spitzer said.

Members of the county’s Latino community called the jury’s report “a good beginning.”

“The report is considerate and appropriate,” said Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County. “Good recommendations come out, and indeed, it does speak to the fact that we in the community should be more involved in helping assure that voters are treated properly with respect to their inability at times to speak English.”