O.C. Set to Pick Voting Machine

Orange County’s registrar of voters has selected an electronic voting system to replace the aging punch-card machines that have caused a number of recent election-night snafus.

The registrar decided not to go with a popular touch-screen system but selected a machine that uses a wheel that allows voters to highlight selected candidates. The system will also allow the blind and non-English speakers to vote without special assistance.

The proposal goes to the Board of Supervisors in January and comes amid growing criticism of the current system, which failed to tally nearly 8,000 absentee ballots in the November election.

“The system is getting old. It’s hard to maintain. There’s only one printing plant that I know of that can print the ballots,” said Steve Rodermund, chief deputy registrar. “I don’t like being put in that position.”

Counties across the nation have been turning to electronic voting machines since the presidential ballot controversy in Florida two years ago.

By next year, analysts expect 75% of the nation’s counties to have some form of electronic voting in place.

By the March 2004 primary, Orange County plans to place 9,000 electronic voting machines in the county’s 1,700 polling places.

The new system -- already used in parts of Texas, Virginia and Colorado -- is expected to cost about $25 million. The county expects to receive $16.8 million in state funds and $8.2 million in federal money to pay for it.

Some county supervisors, however, question the registrar’s decision to whittle the choices without more advice from them. “It’s premature to narrow it down to one,” said Cynthia Coad, outgoing chairwoman.

Supervisor Tom Wilson said through a spokeswoman: “In order to make an informed decision, we’re still waiting on some answers about [the system’s] performance and certification.”

Rodermund, who will become interim Registrar of Voters once current Registrar Rosalyn Lever retires Dec. 31, said the board will be briefed about the new system in January.

On Jan. 28, the department will seek the board’s permission to enter negotiations with Maximus/Hart InterCivic, which makes the voting system.

If negotiations are successful, the board will be asked in late February or early March to approve the contract.

Under the current voting system, county residents punch their choices on a series of cards, which are hand-fed into machines -- some 3 decades old -- that count and tally the vote. This introduces the possibility of human error, which county officials hope to eliminate by moving to an electronic system.

The proposed system allows voters to turn a dial to highlight their selections on a computer screen. Ballots will be available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese. Visually impaired voters will be able to switch to a larger type, and the blind can use an audio ballot to cast their votes.

“It dramatically decreases human error, because with a punch-card system, you’ve got a multitude of individuals that actually touch the ballot somewhere along the process,” Rodermund said. “With the new system, there are very few times humans actually interface with the system.”

Human error is what caused the registrar to miss nearly 8,000 absentee ballots last November. The office noticed the error weeks later when it was about to ask the Board of Supervisors to certify the election results.

The ballots, from five cities, had been improperly fed into the machine and were not added to the vote tallies. The additional votes did not affect any elections, but it was another embarrassment for the registrar’s office.

The agency has made a series of errors in recent years, including providing incorrect sample ballots, ballots with missing information and allowing shortages of Spanish-language ballots. Critics also charged that some of the Vietnamese translations didn’t make sense.

Amin David, chairman of the Los Amigos of Orange County group, has long criticized the registrar’s efforts. On Monday, he was guardedly optimistic about the proposed changes.

“If the [new system] means an improvement, we applaud it. But we’re still very cautious as to the people that are in charge of that office.”

Supervisor Coad added: “No matter what system we have, if we don’t have quality control, awful mistakes will still be made.”

The system selected by officials was one of three they tested at locations across the county earlier this year. Rodermund said he could not release details on the selection process until he briefs the Board of Supervisors. During the testing, officials had said the Maximus/Hart InterCivic was the cheapest of the systems examined.