Next November 7, San Mateo County voters — at least those who still like to cast a ballot at a precinct — will confront new state-of-the-art dial-up, electronic voting machines.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to approve on August 15 the purchase of 2,100 eSlate voting machines from Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas.
The eSlate voting system complies with new federal and state laws, serves voters who have different abilities and languages, and provides a verifiable paper trail, said Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum. “It’s the only unit in the marketplace that meets all needs.”
The new electronic voting system will cost $10.5 million. The federal and state governments will provide $4.5 million each, with the county making up the rest. Since 1992, the election department has saved up $900,000, Mr. Slocum said. He expects the new system to save the county $1.2 million over four years.
Hard choice
“This was a very hard decision, said Mr. Slocum at an August 8 briefing in Redwood City.San Mateo County has a history of getting early and accurate returns in its elections; over the years it has been one of the first California counties to produce results in national elections.
From the 1960s until 1992, the massive Shoup voting machines were fast and accurate. The election building at Tower Road was built to house the 800-pound machines, Mr. Slocum said; 1,537 of them were sold for scrap in 1992 for $70,000.
While the “Eagle” optical-scanning machines — which the county has used from 1992 through June of this year — have been very popular, Mr. Slocum gave several reasons to replace them before November.
The Eagle machines do not meet new federal and state requirements for serving people with disabilities, Mr. Slocum said. They are also getting old, and the county no longer has a maintenance contract. Plus, they make elections very complex and use huge amounts of paper.
In June, for example, voter turnout was less than 37 percent, and more than half of county voters voted absentee, said Election Manager David Tom. But even though about 18 percent of voters actually voted at one of 472 precincts, the county was required to provide paper ballots for 75 percent of the registered voters at each precinct — including different ballots for different communities in three languages.
“The cost of printing ballots we couldn’t use was $175,000,” said Mr. Tom. “18 percent of voters actually showed up, so guess what? Almost 60 percent of the ballots we ordered had to be destroyed.”
New voting experience.
The new eSlate machines don’t use touch-screen technology. You dial in your vote on a wheel a little like an iPod. It is easy to change your vote if you make a mistake. And you get another chance to check — and to change — the paper ballot that is recorded along with your vote.There will be three-to-five eSlate machines in each of the county’s 480 precincts next November. One of these will be a special machine for people with disabilities.
That special eSlate machine is built lower to accommodate wheel chairs; it has earphones and Braille for people who can’t see well; and easy jelly switches for people who can’t manipulate the dial. There’s even a “sip-and-puff” device for quadriplegic voters.
“For the first time, people with disabilities can vote privately and independently — like everybody else,” said Mr. Slocum.
Atherton Councilman Jerry Carlson checked the machine out using earphones; he gave it a good grade. “The verbal prompt was really very good,” he said.
Before deciding on eSlate, the county researched all four voting machines on the market, Mr. Slocum said. It worked with the Commission on Disabilities and checked the machines out at six Universal Voting Centers for the June election.
The next step is to train the county staff, the 2,200 poll workers, and the public to use the unfamiliar machine. Classes will be going on from now to November, and Mr. Slocum promised to provide demonstrations at meetings, street fairs, and other events.
“It will still be accurate; it will still be quick,” he promised.
To learn more or arrange a demonstration, call 363-1884, or e-mail: vote2006@smcare.org with a request. More information is available on shapethefuture.org.
