October 5, 2004

Julie Archer: Touch-screen voting machines are not required by federal law

Anyone who pays attention to the national media has heard about the controversy surrounding the use of touch-screen voting machines. Touch screens, or DREs (Direct Record Electronic), have caused a wide range of election problems in a number of jurisdictions around the country. These problems include votes being inexplicably lost, the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters, and the certification of questionable election results.

The recent controversy in California has probably been the most highly publicized. In April, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified more than 14,000 touch-screen machines made by Diebold Inc. because of glitches that plagued the state’s March primary elections in several counties. However, California is not the only state to experience such problems, nor is Diebold the only voting machine company to come under fire. The iVotronic, made by Elections Systems & Software, has recently been challenged in both Indiana and Florida because of software problems related to system audits and lost votes. Not only was the software problematic, but so was the ES&S response of replacing it with uncertified software, apparently in secret.

West Virginians may think the Mountain State has been unaffected by this controversy, but since the whole DRE security issue erupted, the secretary of state has recommended that a voter-verifiable paper ballot be required for all voting systems used in West Virginia. Unfortunately, none of the touch-screen machines certified for use in West Virginia are able to provide voters with a paper printout of their ballot, and ultimately the final decision to purchase or lease touch-screen machines rests, not with the secretary of state, but with each county commission. As federal funding for upgrades becomes available, more counties may decide to purchase or lease DREs without knowing about all of the problems and questionable votes associated with their use.

Some counties in West Virginia already use touch-screen machines. Cabell County has been using iVotronics for all voting since the 2000 election, and at least four other counties — Lewis, Marion, Monongalia and Wayne — recently switched to the ES&S machines for early voting. Lewis County is considering discontinuing their use until the problems can be resolved.

Marion County, on the other hand, will be leasing the machines and expanding their use countywide in the November general election. Their decision to switch to touch-screen machines was based, in part, on common misunderstandings about what is required by the Help America Vote Act.

At a recent meeting of the Marion County Commission, one commissioner stated repeatedly that they were required to have touch-screen machines in every precinct by 2006. HAVA requires that each polling place provide at least one voting mechanism per polling place that allows disabled individuals to vote independently. Accessibility is required, touch screens are not.

There are other HAVA-compliant alternatives available that allow the disabled to vote unassisted, and more are being developed. Some of these alternatives are also more cost-effective than DREs. Considering that voting systems are a major capital expense, election officials would be wise to explore other options.

We understand that election officials may not have time to sort through all of the information available on voting systems, but, unfortunately, they seem to get most of there information from the manufacturers. Officials from both Cabell and Marion Counties have repeated the manufacturer's sales pitch that paper ballots printed at the end of the day satisfy West Virginia’s requirement for a manually auditable permanent paper record. However, because neither the end-of-the day ballots, nor tallies can be shown to have any connection to the voter’s original intent, they are worthless pieces of paper. If a DRE makes any errors in recording or storing votes, unless you have paper ballots that have been inspected and approved by voters, no meaningful audit can be done.

Congress passed HAVA in 2002 to make changes to our electoral system and get rid of problematic equipment and procedures, however computer scientists from some of the nation’s top technical schools, like Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT, have found that new touch-screen machines are more error prone than the punch-card machines blamed for many of Florida’s problems during the 2000 election, not to mention unreliable and insecure.

The Legislature is considering requiring a voter-verifiable paper ballot for all voting systems used in West Virginia. This would be the simplest way to provide election officials with a paper backup to recover voters’ intent and protect the integrity of our elections.

This year, only voters in Nevada will cast their ballots on touch-screen machines that produce a voter-verifiable paper ballot, although by 2006, any state or county that wants DREs with a printer attachment will be able to get them. In the meantime, election officials should consider all the options, and consider them carefully. The voting machines we buy should be a good choice and not a major mistake.

Archer is a leader of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, which advocates election reform, along with other causes.