Ohio county eyes switch to optical-scan e-voting

01.12.2006
Ohio's Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners is considering scrapping a US$17 million investment in touch-screen electronic-voting hardware and switching to precinct count optical scan devices.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, runs Diebold Election Systems' AccuVote TSX systems. Board members are concerned that the systems now in place can't handle a growing number of voters. By contrast, optical scan systems could accommodate increased numbers of voters by allowing officials to add more places for them to fill out paper ballots in heavy-turnout elections.

Hugh Shannon, government service coordination manager for the county, confirmed that commission members are considering investing in optical scan machines to cope with increased voter demand. "We are gathering information towards that end, but no action has been taken," said Shannon.

A decision will most likely be made by year's end to meet local budget deadlines, he explained.

Michael Vu, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said that neither he nor any members of his committee have yet discussed the matter with the board of commissioners.

The use of touch screens systems in the county's May 2 primary was the subject of a critical report by the Election Science Institute (ESI). Based in San Francisco, ESI is a nonprofit group that works to promote the development of auditable election systems. The report noted that the performance of the paper trail system used by the machines to record votes was flawed, as well.