Article published October 31, 2003
Elections chief touts new voting machines
When Lucas County voters go to the polls on Tuesday, new technology will be waiting to help them cast ballots more simply and with increased accuracy, a local election official said Wednesday during the taping of The Editors television program.
Joe Kidd, director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, praised Diebold Elections Systems, which makes the electronic touch-screen and optical-scan voting machines that will be used by local voters.
"They had superior experience," Mr. Kidd said of the firm, which is based in North Canton, Ohio. "Their installation in Georgia certainly impressed us. If they could [install their machines and train election workers] in the entire state of Georgia in six months, they could certainly do Lucas County in the same amount of time."
Voters will be able to choose on Tuesday whether to vote with touch-screen or optical-scan equipment. Mr. Kidd said the optical-scan machines are temporary, and that he expects the county will have brand-new touch-screen machines for the presidential primary election in March.
"We are going to be among the first" in Ohio to get new machines next year, he said. The county is upgrading its equipment from outdated mechanical lever voting machines that were bought in the mid-1960s.
Mr. Kidd told program host Tom Walton, vice president-editor of The Blade, that those machines finally broke down for the last time last November.
Ohio elections officials have said that the federal government will pay most, if not all, of the cost of the county’s new machines under the Help America Vote Act, an election reform measure signed into law last year by President Bush.
Mark Radke, director of marketing for Diebold, appeared on the program with Mr. Kidd. He said the machines are extremely secure and are safe from computer "hackers".
"It’s not connected to the Internet, ever," Mr. Radke said. He added that a security review conducted by Maryland, which uses the machines, produced a "glowing" report. A similar study commissioned by Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is now under way.
Mr. Radke said the machines take advantage of technology that allows it to read or display the ballot to voters in many different languages. In Los Angeles County, where the machines are in use, he said voters have their choice of seven different languages.
Mr. Kidd said he is particularly pleased about the Diebold system’s capability to allow disabled voters to cast secret ballots for the first time here.
"They want independent voting. Every citizen should have that right. It’s a basic, fundamental right to cast a secret ballot," he said. "Not only do the blind benefit, but people with cognitive disabilities, people with dyslexia, or people who’re illiterate can also use the audio ballot to vote without having to suffer the embarrassment of having to say, ‘Can you read this to me?’" he said.
But Mr. Kidd said voting may not move any more quickly Tuesday because people may be intrigued and might want to linger at the machine a little longer than normal.
The Editors will air at 8:30 tonight on WGTE-TV, Channel 30. It will be repeated at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on WBGU-TV, Channel 27.
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