Electronic voting machines to debut Tuesday

BRISTOL – The old mechanical voting machines that have reliably delivered election results for generations are gathering dust in a forgotten storeroom as officials scramble instead to prepare for the mandatory advent of electronic counters at the polling places Tuesday.
"This is costing a lot of bucks," said Republican Registrar Ellie Klapatch.
As Klapatch and Democratic Registrar Bob Badal stood surrounded by packing boxes in a Middle Street warehouse recently, they talked about the difficulties of switching from the tried-and-true lever machines to optical scanners that will now count the ballots automatically.
Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary, which is expected to draw at least a few thousand voters to the city's 10 polling places, is something of a test run for the Nov. 6 general election, when larger numbers will descend on the polls.
But Klapatch and Badal said they're as ready as they can be.
Klapatch said the state has spent "well over $200,000" buying an astonishing array of new equipment to outfit the polls.
Each polling place will have at least one optical scanner, a backup power supply in case the electricity goes out, privacy booths where voters will blacken the circles on paper ballots to indicate their choice of candidates and alternate voting methods for voters with disabilities.
This isn't the first election in the state to try the new machines. Last fall, 25 municipalities used them, which helped get some of the kinks out of the system.
Klapatch said that Bristol learned a lot from their experiences, including the need to make sure poll workers don't talk too much to voters and that the new booths are set up so that there's a wall behind voters to keep anyone from peeking over someone's shoulder.
For most voters, the new system should be easy, officials said.
Klapatch said that when voters enter the polling place, they'll be greeted by a demonstrator who can show them a DVD about how to use the new system. That's because the state bought Zenith portable DVD players for each precinct to use to play the demonstration videos.
Voters don't have to watch, of course.
There will be a large sample ballot available for voters to review as well, she said.
After that, they'll have their name checked against the roster of registered voters, as usual. Bring a photo identification card to smooth the way.
Then a ballot clerk will give the voter a paper ballot and the voter will sit down at one of the privacy booths to fill in the ovals beside the appropriate candidate or candidates. For Tuesday, that means picking between nominee Ellen Zoppo and challenger Art Ward, which makes the process pretty simple.
A felt pen will be hanging from the booth. It's best to use it.
Once the ballot is done, it will be inserted into the optical scanner, its votes registered and the ballot saved in a locked box inside.
On the off chance that something's wrong, the machine will spit out the ballot, giving voters a chance to try again. That's most likely to happen in the general election when someone mistakenly casts too many votes for one office.
At the end of the day, after the polls close at 8 p.m., the moderator will print off the results on a ticker that looks something like a grocery store receipt.
The registrars said the state is taking precautions to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
For instance, each polling place will have four 8-hour battery backups that could run the optical scanners in case there's no electricity all day, something nobody expects to happen.
It's a lot of stuff to set up, officials said, but they're ready. Movers will haul the machines to each precinct starting at noon Monday.
Badal said some of the equipment will be set up ahead of time, but the scanners and ballots won't be unlocked until shortly before the 6 a.m. start of voting Tuesday.
It won't be simple, especially the first time around, he said.
The privacy booths are "heavy and awkward" and "a little difficult" to set up, Badal said.
But the personnel are ready.
"We've had excellent training sessions," Badal said.
And what about the old lever machines?
The city's trying to figure out what to do with them. For now, they're locked up in the basement at Stafford School, facing an uncertain future.

Also, don't miss this related story by Jackie Majerus about concerns that seniors may have a hard time with the new voting machines.

*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com