The Return of Chad

California fortunately has never had the outcome of a statewide election dangle from a hanging chad. It may be pure luck, because nine counties with 8.6 million registered voters use the same voting system that made a mess of last year’s election in Florida. California leaders are prudent in moving to eliminate the punch-card systems as soon as possible.

Secretary of State Bill Jones says he hopes to end the use of the Votomatic and Pollstar machines by the presidential election of 2004, and if that is not possible, to outlaw them by 2006. The sooner the better.

New machines including computer touch screens are costly, but the Legislature has approved a $200-million bond issue for the March primary that would offer counties $3 for every dollar they put up. First, Gov. Gray Davis must approve putting the issue to a vote by signing AB 56 by Assemblyman Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco).

The chad-producing punch cards are used in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Chad is the term for the bit of ballot paper that is displaced when the voter punches a hole to choose a candidate. The controversy in Florida involved ballots in which the chad was not cleanly punched or removed and computers did not count the vote.

Counties buy the voting machines and can only use those certified by the secretary of state. Jones has approved four types of touch-screen devices and several optical-scan systems, which read a pencil or pen mark on a paper ballot. Touch screens were used successfully in Riverside County last year.

Former Secretary of State March Fong Eu, who is campaigning to return to that office in next year’s election, has built her campaign on replacing the punch cards. Jones, a Republican who is barred by term limits from seeking re-election, is a candidate for governor. His action is bound to boost his campaign.

Who would have thought that buying new voting machines would be a popular campaign issue? In this case, politics definitely makes for good policy.