Thread: Say goodbye to touch-screen voting in Florida

Broward voters to use system for the final time
Thing of the past

By Anthony Man | Political Writer
January 29, 2008

Like a guest who seemed perfect to invite to the party — but then turned into a troublemaker, broke the coffee table, and stayed too long — Florida's touch-screen voting machines are finally heading out the door.

By the time the polls close at 7 tonight, perhaps 600,000 Broward and Palm Beach voters will have used them one last time. The gadgets that cost taxpayers millions then head for the scrap heap.

"I'm actually very proud of what we are about to accomplish in Florida, and I'm also very hopeful that we are, in fact, becoming the model for the nation," said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach.

Wexler, who represents parts of 10 central and northwest Broward communities, is one of the country's leading critics of touch-screen voting.

Starting with the August primaries for congressional, state legislative and county posts, voters will mark paper ballots that will be read by optical scanners, similar to the way students take computer-scored, standardized tests in school.

Before then, a handful of small Broward elections, including one in Pompano Beach and two in Miramar, and most of those in Palm Beach County's cities, towns and villages, including Boca Raton and West Palm Beach, will be conducted on touch screens. Those contests involve relatively few voters.

Today's presidential primary, property tax referendum and municipal elections are the last big hurrah for touch screens.

Fifteen of Florida's 67 counties — representing more than half the state's population — bought touch-screen equipment after the 2000 presidential election. It's used in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.

The ATM-style devices were seen as the foolproof, high-tech replacement for the old-fashioned punch cards that contributed to the weeks of recounting and court fights in 2000 before George W. Bush was declared the winner over Al Gore.

Complaints came quickly:

•Some voters said the machines displayed the name of Candidate A, even when voters insisted they were trying to vote for Candidate B.

•Some contests showed people cast a ballot but didn't vote — even when no other race was on the ballot.

•Skeptics started spreading the belief, largely on the Internet, that the electronic machines were susceptible to undetectable tampering.

Elections officials said there was no evidence that tampering was possible. And the other complaints often couldn't be verified.

"My guess is that 99 out of 100 issues can be traced back to people issues — either voters, poll workers or elections officials. But the touch screens are the ones that are readily blamed," said Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

Browning was Pasco County supervisor of elections for 26 years, and his county used touch-screen equipment. "There was nothing wrong with those systems. They were accurate, secure and reliable."

As public skepticism intensified nationwide, two things happened in the 2006 election: Charlie Crist was elected governor, and voting machines in a Sarasota-area congressional contest didn't show votes from 18,000 who went to the polls that day.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush and the secretaries of state he appointed to oversee elections rejected or ignored calls for a paper trail or a switch to optical scan. Crist replaced Bush on Jan. 2, 2007, and on Feb. 1 announced his plan to end touch-screen voting.

The change goes into effect July 1. Until 2012, one touch-screen machine will be allowed in each polling place so people with visual problems can use the audio feature without having to ask for help.

Everyone else will vote on paper ballots in the Aug. 26 primary and Nov. 4 general election. The state allocated $27.9 million of federal money to pay for new equipment in the touch-screen counties.

Browning is responsible for getting rid of the machines. He's supposed to get as much money for them as possible, with proceeds going to pay off the debt Broward, Palm Beach and other counties still have on the original purchases.

Browning and Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes said the cost of the change is justified if it improves voter confidence.

Snipes said it's important to remove anything "that in any way keeps the voter from coming out and participating."

Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, said computers make fewer mistakes than people and they're faster.

"I see it as something that brings a whole set of problems of its own. It is very hard for me to see going from electronics to ball-point pens as progress," he said.

Dinerstein thinks it's going to take so long for people to mark their ballots and feed them into scanners at the polling places that "the lines on election day are going to be out the door and around the block."

On balance, political scientist Dario Moreno, director of the Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, said switching to paper is a good idea.

"Voters need that kind of assurance and security," he said. "[But] we're just fooling ourselves if we think scanners are going to be a panacea."

Sun-Sentinel

Very good news, I hope. I wonder if voters can keep a copy of their vote? I was told that I couldn't have a copy because people who illegally pressure voters could use it to intimidate people. What they do here (San Jose) is let you see a paper roll behind glass that scrolls your votes past you for verification. That seemed like a good compromise.

Good Start!

They all need to go, in every State.

If someone in China can get into my computer, what makes you think they can not tamper with these machines both before, during or after.

They have been tested by many computer geeks and found easy to rig.

This is why someone who couldn't get elected dog catcher a few months ago is now somehow in first and second place.

I am sure not everyone is that gullible or ill informed. A lot maybe, but not all.

Originally Posted by Darlene

This is why someone who couldn't get elected dog catcher a few months ago is now somehow in first and second place.

Amen to that!