Despite federal money, no consistency in e-voting

BOSTON - Tens of millions of people will cast their votes Nov. 2 in one of the most hotly contested presidential elections in recent U.S. history. But voters across the U.S. will encounter different voting technologies and procedures, with many counties nationwide clinging to punchcard, lever machine and even paper ballots, and the transition to electronic voting moving slowly in many states.

Two years after Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to revamp voting in the U.S. and phase out older voting systems, there is little consistency nationwide in adoption of the law and its provisions, including the use of modern, electronic voting technology. While some states have moved quickly to enact HAVA, elections officials elsewhere are waiting for more guidance from Washington, D.C., on which voting systems meet federal standards.

HAVA addresses a myriad of problems that arose in the contested 2000 presidential election. The act makes $3.9 billion in federal funds available to state and local governments to improve elections. That money includes billions devoted to improving voting processes and administration and $325 million to replacing outdated punchcard and lever voting machines.

While HAVA does not mandate particular voting technologies, it does require that voting systems be accessible to people with disabilities by 2006. That requirement in itself will prompt many counties to buy new voting equipment before the deadline, mostly direct recording electronic (DRE) systems with touch screen interfaces and features to accommodate blind and physically impaired voters.

HAVA money allowed Greenwood County, South Carolina, which already used Votronic DRE machines from Electronic Systems and Software Inc. (ES&S), to upgrade to newer model iVotronic systems, said Connie Moody, director of voter registration and elections for the county. The iVotronics have larger screens that display ballot information in color and a feature that allows voters to review ballots before casting them. Most importantly, the machines comply with accessibility requirements established by the Americans with Disabilities Act that are part of HAVA, she said.

The federal money for voting systems is especially welcome in poorer states, where funds for new voting equipment have often fallen victim to tight local budgets and the need to pay for schools and roads, said Dan Seligson, editor of electionline.org, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks election reform nationwide.

"Elections only happen once a year. ... When you're dealing with competing priorities, you focus on things that touch peoples lives," he said.

In Wyoming, where lever voting machines purchased years ago are still in use, HAVA will eventually allow all of the state's 23 counties to upgrade to some form of DRE technology, said Secretary of State Joe Meyer. Currently, only one county uses DRE technology, he said.

In South Carolina, many counties bought early-vintage DRE machines in the 1980s using state matching funds, but were unable to update those systems in recent years after state money dried up, said Donna Royson, deputy director of the South Carolina State Election Commission. HAVA money is now helping South Carolina to move to a uniform system of voting machines statewide, she said.