Electronic voting machines get mixed reviews in Lewiston

By Sarah Ali

November 10, 2005 | LEWISTON -- George Washington is long dead, but Tuesday he was brought back to life as a possible candidate for United States President once again.

Washington, along with other famous names like Charles Dickens, John Stockton and Billie Holiday, were incorporated in the test ballot on the Diebold Electronic voting machines. The machines were show cased in 17 voting locations through out the valley in hope of educating the voters on the new method of voting that will come into effect in real elections as soon as June 2006.

Karalee Morrison and the other election judges in Lewiston knew each of the voters by their first and last name and greeted each person with a smile and a "how are you today?" The small town has long been accustomed to the old paper and pen form of voting and the introduction of the new machine was received with mixed feelings.

"I don't know if I'll still be around for this next year, but when you get as old as us you really don't care for new things," said Mr. Rigby, referring to him and his wife who were not excited for the new machines.

"This electronic business is just flabbergasting," said Mrs. Rigby. "I hope someone will be around next year to point out how it works again for us older folks."

On the flip side, Debbi Hymus was pleased with the new machines and said that they looked like fun. Matt Curry said that he had been waiting to see one of the new machines, "I've heard about them on TV."

The voting took place in the the club room of the library, decorated with Lewiston memorablia. A table full of treats including Snickers, Dum-dums, Fritos and homemade cookies were also available for voters to enjoy as they chatted with their friends and neighbors.

Rex Spackman took a few minutes to try out the machine while his wife Mildred had a Snickers in celebration of her 78th birthday. "Is this the what they got to end all the complaints," said Speckman, "its good they have some built in checks, looks like its fool proof -- they're getting pretty fancy these days."

Julie Bergeson, the Lewiston city recorder has her doubts about the machines as well. "Personally, I am not in favor of electronic voting machines because of security issues. They will work fine if people will get over their initial oppositional traits to anything new."

The machines have several features to ensure the security and accuracy of the votes. Each voter will need an access card to use the machine that can only be given to them once they proof that they are a registered voter to the election judge. The machines will also have at least two ways to record the votes, both with a disk locked inside the machine and with a paper trail which is recorded after each voter manually instructs the machine to cast the ballot.

Several checks are included in the program to assure the voter of the accuracy of their vote. Voters simple touch the name of the individual they wish to vote for, and can cancel that vote just as easily by touching the screen again and removing the "X" that marks their selection. At the end of the ballot voters review a summary of their ballot and choose to print it when they have checked each mark. The voter can reject their ballot at the end of the process if there are any mistakes and start over again with a new ballot.

Tova Jones, who had walked over from the library to quickly cast her vote while her children were looking at books, was impressed with effiency of the new technology but said that she was concerned about the cost of the machines and wondered how they would affect local taxes.

According to Janeen Allen, deputy Cache County clerk, each machine cost $3,000. The bill was paid by the state in accordance with the federal mandate that followed the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002. Allen said that for each booth the various precinct currently have, there will be a Diebold machine in its place for the June Primary elections.

"With growth there may even be more," said Allen, "the state will be paying about $1 million in Cache County alone." Cache County is expected to receive an estimated 396 machines initially that will be used over and over. "Costs will be incurred over time for the maintaince of the machines... they have to be kept in a climate controlled environment to insure the proper functioning."

"We were hoping to get feed back on how to better educate the public so that we can work on a campaign to demonstrate to voters and also point out the benefits of the new technology," said Blake Barrett, a USU student who is a PR intern at the Cache County office. The interns helped organize the demonstration that took place in the 17 precincts where the machines were located.

One of the concerns brought up during the demonstration in Lewiston was whether the machines would be bilingual for those who don't speak English. Both Barrett and Allen were unsure if the machines would include a bilingual feature, however they mentioned that the machines would definitely be handicapped-accessible and include headphones for the visually impaired.

"This is very good system, and I'm sure that all of those who have worries and concerns will find that the machines are easy and not as complicated as they think," said Allen.

Out of the 1,066 registered voters in Lewiston 374 showed up to vote. The results of elections were as follows:

Mayor -- Laurel Goodwin, 131; Kelly Field 245.

Council Members -- Brandon Allen, 145; Kim Bodily, 154; Karen Jackson, 253; Darwin Pitcher, 188.

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