Thursday, December 11, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

SEQUOIA VOTING SYSTEMS: Voting machines chosen

Clark County already using touch-screens which will have to be upgraded

Secretary of State Dean Heller displays a Sequoia Voting Systems machine at a news conference Wednesday. Heller chose the company over a competitor for use of the machines statewide. Photo by Jeff Scheid. Sequoia Voting Systems touch screen machines will have a secured paper printout that voters can view. Federal law requires all electronic voting machines in the United States to be equipped with voter verifiable printers by the 2006 election. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

RENO -- All Nevada counties will begin using Sequoia Voting Systems electronic voting machines by the September 2004 elections, Secretary of State Dean Heller announced Wednesday.

Only Clark County, which is home to 70 percent of the state's population, currently uses Sequoia machines for elections.

Heller said he was persuaded that Sequoia offers superior machines because of a Gaming Control Board electronic division test that found machines offered by a competitor, Diebold, represented a "legitimate threat to the integrity of the election process."

He added that Clark County has used Sequoia machines since 1994 without any problems.

"It is important everyone in Nevada can cast votes on election day on the same type of machines and in the same manner," Heller said during a news conference at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

In a poll of county election clerks and registrars in June, the Sequoia machines were favored 12-3 over Diebold machines.

Washoe County Registrar Dan Burk, who favored Diebold machines, said it's time for registrars to put aside their differences and accept Heller's decision.

"We need to work together and not argue about it," Burk said. "Clark County has proven over the last eight years to 10 years that its touch-screen machines are excellent."

Carson City Clerk Alan Glover had threatened litigation if Heller did not allow counties to use Diebold machines.

The secretary of state also held a news conference in Las Vegas. Heller said Nevada has received $5 million in federal funds under the Help America Vote Act to buy electronic touch-screen machines. The state anticipates another $5.7 million federal grant in January and $4.3 million later to buy machines and train election workers.

Besides picking Sequoia, Heller also ruled the voting machines must be outfitted with voter verifiable receipt printers in all counties but Clark by the primary election next year. About 740 of Clark County's newer machines will be retrofitted with the printers by that election.

But the other 2,186 older Sequoia machines may not have the printers installed before next year's election.

With the printers, voters can check to see if a paper ballot actually reflects the candidates they voted for on the touch-screen machines. Heller said voters will be permitted to look at their ballots, but Nevada and federal laws permit them from taking them from polling places.

"It is a right of every citizen to feel secure that the voting choices they have made are recorded accurately," said Heller, the state's chief election officer. "A paper trail is an intrinsic component of voter confidence."

Federal law requires all electronic voting machines in the United States to be equipped with voter verifiable printers by the 2006 election.

Clark County Registrar of Voter Larry Lomax said some residents may be upset the county will not have printers on every machine by next year's election. To alleviate the concern, he intends to place at least one machine with a vote printer at every precinct. Voters will then have the option of voting on a machine with a printer.

Jon Summers, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said Heller's decision is a step in the right direction. But Democrats still are concerned that more than 2,100 machines in Clark County will not have vote verifiable printers in place by next year.

"I don't dispute Larry Lomax will do everything he can to make it as fair an election as possible," Summers said. "But there is a problem if we aren't going to be able to go back and hand-count those votes if necessary."

Heller is negotiating a contract with Sequoia that will require the company to provide about 2,000 voting machines to the 16 counties other than Clark by March. The state will pay about $7.5 million for the machines, which includes the cost of training election workers.

In addition, Heller anticipates spending about $2 million to retrofit existing Clark County machines with printers.

Diebold had bid $11.6 million to provide machines for the entire state, including Clark County.

But its bid, according to Heller, did not include vote verifiable recorder printers. He added the company also wanted Clark County to give to it the 3,000 Sequoia machines now in use. Those machines cost about $17 million.