Dec. 12, 2005
Board of Elections Gears Up for '06
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - The 2004 Election in North Carolina is one of those moments that causes you to blush just at its memory. Like showing up dressed for a swim party only to discover it's a prayer meeting.
The embarrassment was caused by a magic voting machine in Carteret County that made over 4,500 ballots disappear.
The foul-up extended the final outcome for two very close, statewide elections into 2005. There were court cases, new election laws and mentions on late night TV.
However, there was, if not a happy ending, a just one. The two candidates who garnered the most votes were declared the winners. Republican Steve Troxler won the Agriculture Commissioner's race, and Democrat June Atkinson won the State School Superintendent's post.
But nobody wants a repeat performance in the 2006 elections, fast approaching.
Thus, the State Board of Elections is quietly working to avoid such a sequel. The General Assembly, for instance, approved spending over $50 million in HAVA (the federal Help America Vote Act) money for new voting machines as well as extra polling places.
Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections, says the board was given authority by the legislature to select the voting machines and exercise quality control. In the past, county election boards dealt directly with vendors once their machines were certified by the State Board.
“Now, any kind of issue must be reported to the State Board,” says Bartlett. “It's very, very important because we had counties in the past having to fend for themselves. Those with manpower and bucks could take care of problems, but poor counties could not.”
Bartlett believes the new process will result in a more uniform system as the variety of machines is reduced. New legislation, for example, eliminated all punch-card and lever machines, still used by a few counties.
The General Assembly also required all voting machines to provide a back-up system or “paper trail” that can be checked should machines malfunction.
Three counties -- Graham, Tyrrell and Hyde -- still use traditional paper ballots. The remaining counties are almost evenly split between optical scan ballot machines and electronic or touch-screen machines.
“They're going to have to have it [paper trail capability] or they cannot do business in North Carolina,” declares Bartlett.
The state has selected three companies as approved vendors, (note that the maker of the infamous Carteret County voting machine did not apply), but there are still questions about whether all three will abide by the tough voter protections required by state law, or if any will back out.
Some counties will have to buy new equipment, if their current machines are not certified, to replace old or existing equipment. The state will chip in, spending $10 million to set up and equip new polling places.
As North Carolina's population continues to grow, so does the number of voters, hence, the need for more polling space and equipment.
Voters surprised election officials in 2004 when they turned out in large numbers for early voting. About a million citizens voted early.
“We're going to have about a million dollars for the one-stop sites,” says Bartlett. “There will be another $2 million in grants to make polling places handicap accessible.”
One of the new challenges for Bartlett's office is a requirement to test the accuracy of voting in each county, starting next year. “We have to do a random sample of the highest race on the ballot. We will cross check the votes with precinct records,” he explains.
This can be a headache for some urban precincts in which there are multiple districts represented. There must be different ballots at that one precinct to reflect all the different jurisdictions. “Wake County,” Bartlett chuckles, “has one precinct that has 16 different ballots because of the variations in districts.”
Also in response to the contentious elections of 2004, the General Assembly passed new legislation aimed at clarifying the procedures for casting and counting provisional ballots, that is, when someone votes outside his or her proper precinct.
More high-tech help is on the way, too. Bartlett says, “There will be laptops to check with the local Boards of Election that will have access to the county rolls.” Poll workers will be able to check to make sure a provisional voter is indeed registered.
HAVA made the State Board the official record keeper for all state elections. “The official paper record stays in the county, but all the counties are connected to us,” says Bartlett, and that provides for a central management system.
With other states making similar changes to their respective voting machinery, Bartlett believes there will be a rush to fill orders. “We're competing with other states,” he worries, not only for the equipment but for the time it takes vendors to train local officials.
“It's a huge undertaking,” he says.
Barlow Herget is a Raleigh author and writes the “Follow the Money” column for the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
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