Wharton County GOP votes for pencils over pixels on ballots
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

L-N File Photo Computer Concerns After one electronic voting snafu in Boling during the November state election, Wharton County's Republican Party has decided to return to paper balloting for the upcoming Primary. Party leaders are questioning the security and validity of the devices.

Spooked by one man's problem with an electronic voting machine last month, the Wharton County Republican Party took a second look at the county's paperless voting machines and decided to revert to paper ballots for its upcoming primary election.

While trying to complete his ballot during the Nov. 6 Texas Amendment election, Boling resident Jim Welch said that when he was voting on Amendment 11, the machine failed to record his vote and instead changed his vote on Amendment 8.

County Elections Administrator Judy Owens - who is out of town this week - confirmed Welch's problem occurred, and said the situation was corrected without compromising the election.

Welch was given the opportunity to start a new ballot and declined, then presented his concerns to the county commissioner's court, which owns the voting machines.

Debra Medina, chairwoman of the county's Republican Party, said Welch's experience raised too many red flags.

"When I asked why that happened, (Owens) said, 'I don't know, but I'm sure it didn't happen on another machine,'" Medina said. "I don't mean to be a skeptic, but how do you know it didn't happen on any other machine?"

Medina presented her concerns to the county Republican executive committee, which decided Tuesday night to use paper ballots during the March 4 party primary, which Medina estimates will draw about 3,000 voters to 13 consolidated polling sites.

Until this February, the county used the Automark electronic voting machine, which accommodates a paper ballot, and a few of the more recently designed iVotronics, which don't allow paper ballots.

Owens asked county commissioners to buy 60 iVotronic machines to replace its Automarks in February. Federal funding though the Help America Vote Act, coupled with the sale of the older machines, covered the costs. Commissioners court - by a 3-1 vote - approved purchasing the iVotronics and adopted them as the county's official election system.

"The decision was made to trade in those Automark machines and go to the iVotronic, which has no paper backup," Medina said. "When you do a recount, you're doing an electronic recount, which is basically a reprint. Why not stay with the paper ballot until all those kinks are worked out? Is it more trouble, might it take more time, be more work? Absolutely, but our elections are important enough to be certain they are done right, and not subject to mechanical failures and mechanical corruption."

Medina said the machines have failed in other jurisdictions, notably Dallas and San Francisco, and numerous lawsuits are pending against the company that makes both systems, ES&S.

"I hope the county votes to suspend iVotronics until the lawsuits are settled," she said. She would like commissioners to talk to the company and look at its contract with ES&S, to see if "we are tied to these machines or is there a way to step back to the Automark."

"I think voters are more concerned with the integrity of an election than whether ballot counting is going on till 10:30 at night," she said. "I'll do all I can to see the vote is counted quickly, but my first responsibility is to be sure it's accurate."

Owens has said that logistically, paper ballots aren't feasible.

"To have hand-counted ballots just wouldn't work," she said. "We already can't find election judges to work the 14- hour day required, and to count (votes) at the polling places would mean we need three people to count and an election judge at each location."

But Medina said the party does plan to have paper ballots counted at the election site, "so we aren't anticipating using any more election workers than what we have used historically."

"Our costs should be similar to what we had in 2006 with the Automark paper ballots," she said.

She didn't know what would happen with the voting machines once her party's primary is completed.

"What do we do between the primary and the general election in November? I don't know," Medina said. "I can only hope voters in Wharton County will join us in looking to find a better system."