MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
MAY 3, 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chairperson Stutsman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 1:33 p.m. Members present were: Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan; absent: Pat Harney.
Others present were:
Cedar County Auditor Betty Ellerhoff, Cedar County Auditor’s Office Elections Staff member Leanne Zearley, Colleen Willson, Darren Corkery, Goodwill Industries Representative Marc Rahe, Henry County Auditor Hettie Maschmann, Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett, Johnson County Auditor’s Office Administrative Secretary Casie Kadlec, Johnson County Coalition for Persons with Disabilities Representative Valerie Appleton, Johnson County Coalition for Persons with Disabilities Representative Louise Young, Johnson County Council of Governments Human Services Coordinator Linda Severson, Johnson County Elections Deputy Steve Miller, Johnson County Elections Staff member Harry Rueber, Johnson County Elections Staff member Jim Erickson, Johnson County Elections Staff member Mona Shaw, Johnson County Elections Technician Daryl Anderson, Johnson County Minutes and Publications Deputy Julie Gilmere, Johnson County Pollworker Ilene Greenwood, Johnson County Pollworker Leonard Greenwood, Johnson County Pollworker Les Cullers, Johnson County Pollworker Marilyn Jensen, Johnson County Pollworker Nancy Cullers, Johnson County Pollworker Richard Jensen, Chris Nelson, Rachel Villhauer, and Viv Hahn.
ACCUPOLL, INC. REPRESENTATIVE FRANK WIEBE: DEMONSTRATION OF ACCUPOLL VOTING SYSTEM
County Auditor Tom Slockett reported that paper trail legislation for elections has been held up by State Representative Libby Jacobs, the person in charge of the Committee of the House. Slockett explained that Governor Vilsack has announced that he will veto any elections bill that doesn’t include a paper trail. If Auditors want the elections bill passed they will have to vote for the paper trail. The bill has already passed the Senate by a 48-0 margin. Slockett said that these actions have breathed new life into the paper trail for this session of the Legislature.
Harney entered at 1:35 p.m.
Stutsman welcomed everybody to the voting demonstrations. She said that there were two demonstrations yesterday, and that they were very interesting and well presented. Stutsman announced that the Auditor's Office and the Board of Supervisors will be reviewing the demonstrations at 9:00 a.m. on May 4, 2005.
Accupoll Representative Frank Wiebe thanked the group for the opportunity to present. Wiebe said that Accupoll started four years ago, right after the 2000 election. Their background was in using information technology to produce solutions to business problems. He said that in this case the problem was with voting and they are trying to help make the voting process better. Wiebe said that their belief was that there had to be a system that was open and transparent as well as cost effective for the County to run on an ongoing basis. AccuPoll was the first company to come out with a voter verified paper audit trail at the February 2001 National Association of Secretaries of State. Wiebe said that the paper trail is needed for the trust, transparency, and honesty of the process. He said that the bottom line is that any voting situation needs an auditable trail that can be verified and trusted.
Wiebe said that the upgraded system, version 2.5 has been qualified under 2002 standards. Testing was finished in late March and they are waiting for the official assignment of the systems qualification number by the Election Assistance Commission and will be applying to the State of Iowa for certification.
Wiebe presented two voting stations. He explained that any voting stations can be made accessible with the use of a keypad and headphones for the blind. Wiebe presented the voting control station, which helps drive the other pieces of equipment. This helps poll workers manage the voting place more effectively. It initializes the Go Vote keys, which the voter uses for the voting process. Wiebe presented the demonstration version of their server and software. Results would come back to the Auditor's Office by compact disc and are then inserted into the central vote consolidator. He said that the consolidator runs a statement of votes, operates the canvass, and handles provisional votes and write-ins.
Slockett asked if the provisional votes can be cast and then later removed from the count, if necessary. Wiebe said that the votes are printed on the voting machine. If a provisional ballot was cast it could be inserted in the provisional ballot envelope without being added to the vote total and could then be handled manually once it was verified. Wiebe said that they are trying to eliminate the need to distribute preprinted ballots to the polling place. They can record the votes provisionally but have them not included in the tally. They then provide the information on the paper and are able to tell voters upon inquiry whether their vote counted or not. He added that whenever a provisional vote is converted it is recorded in the paper trail. Also, the machine will enable the poll workers to give someone who has voted a provisional ballot a piece of paper with instructions on how the voter can follow up on their vote.
Wiebe said that he would like to start from the perspective of the voter. Machines normally have privacy screens or shields which can be removed if the County uses a voting booth. Wiebe explained that the first thing a voter does is come to the polling place. They then proceed to the person with a poll book. Next, instead of giving the voter a ballot they will be given a smart card, which is programmed with the right ballot. If it was a primary election it would also be recorded if the voter was a Democrat or Republican. Wiebe said that the smart cards do not contain any voter identification information and is used only to communicate ballot style to the voting station. Wiebe said that the elections judge would initialize the Go Vote card by inserting it into a slot and initializing it. The voter would then take the card and insert it into the voting station. The system would then read the card. Wiebe explained that there is some security on the card. The card will not work in other polling places, and the card is set up to allow the voter to cast only one ballot.
Wiebe said that the first thing seen when the card is inserted into the voting station is a language screen where the voter can either choose English or Spanish. The next thing is a voter instruction screen. Wiebe said that AccuPoll would work with the County to develop a voter education process. This would insure that when a voter steps up to the booth on Election Day it would not be their first time experiencing the new technology. He pointed out that there is audio associated with all of the screens to help voters who need it be guided through the process. Wiebe explained that the next page key allows the voter to go through the different screens. There is a straight party vote screen. If a voter wanted to do a cross over vote they could override the straight party function at the contest level. It would then go to the non-partisan contests. The screen can be touched anywhere inside the big button area. The system will prevent over votes.
R. Sullivan asked if the voter can skip races on the ballot. Wiebe said that yes, the screen will give an under vote warning and let the voter either continue or make a vote. If there is an over vote the system will stop the voter with a warning. In a situation where there is a ballot proposition the voter can either view the summarized text or the entire ballot proposition. If the voter would like to expand or minimize the text they can.
Pollworker Ilene Greenwood asked if the voter would be able to under vote if they would like to. Wiebe said that the machine will allow under votes.
Wiebe said that when the voter is finished marking the ballot the machine shows a ballot review screen. In any cases where there are under votes, the machine will allow the voter to go back and vote those offices or continue and cast their ballot. There are two different options with the system. If the voter is satisfied they can count the ballot. The machine is set up in sure count mode which means there are no electronic results being created inside the machine. The machine is only producing a paper ballot to show the voter how they voted. The system then prints an official paper ballot. On the proof of vote there is a ballot key. Wiebe said that the ballot key is unique across the election and county but does not identify the voter in any way. Wiebe said that the ballot also shows each of the contests and how the voter voted and would have the under votes on there. If the voter made a mistake they can spoil the ballot by taking it back to the pollworker with the Go Vote key. The pollworker could then spoil the ballot and mark the electronic record as spoiled. Slockett asked if that would create a link between that ballot and the re-voted ballot. Wiebe said that there would be no record of which voter made a mistake. He added that the Go Vote keys can be reused and that there does not have to be one for every registered voter. Slockett asked what the purpose of the security link is. Wiebe said that in the event the election is audited the link is there so that they could compare the paper records to the electronic records and any discrepancies can be detected.
Stutsman asked where the ballot box is. Wiebe said that the ballot box would be the same as those used today. Slockett said that the County would have to purchase more ballot boxes. Wiebe said that there are a lot of ballot box manufacturers that they could refer the County to.
Wiebe explained that the other piece of information on the paper ballot is in the bar code. The bar code is there because they are all looking at the needs of the disabled community. He said that somebody who is blind should have the same opportunity to review their ballot as someone who is not. A bar code scanner can be attached and either the voter or a pollworker can scan the ballot and it will be read back to the voter via headphones. This allows a blind voter to verify their own ballot. Wiebe said that the bar code could also be used under a scanner to retrieve the electronic record to aid in ballot conversion or a recount.
Johnson County Elections Technician Daryl Anderson asked if the ballot ink is waterproof. Wiebe said that the paper and ink are standard but that the ballots could be reprinted as well.
Wiebe explained that there are two ways the system can be configured. The sure vote system has no electronic record. With these machines the need to deliver paper ballots to the polls has been eliminated. The scanner is connected to the voting administration work station. The scanner can create an electronic record on the voting administrator work station. At the end of the night a tally report is created based only on the official ballots. If somebody had tried to scan a provisional ballot the scanner would refuse the provisional ballot. R. Sullivan asked if there is a safeguard against trying to scan the ballot again. Wiebe said if someone tries to scan a ballot a second time the count will not be updated.
Pollworker Leonard Greenwood asked what happens if someone uses the Go Vote card and tries to put it back in. Wiebe demonstrated that scenario and showed that the system reads that the card had been disabled. He said that they have the ability to program the cards to only be active for a defined amount of time. There is also the ability to have an amount of time during which the ballot can be spoiled. He added that when the ballot is cast the time is recorded. Anderson asked how the card is able to be handled by disabled voters. Wiebe said that a voter might need assistance putting the card into a machine or removing it. If a voter is blind the screen can be darkened to provide security of the vote. If somebody has a hard time handling the paper due to issues with hand mobility, they may still need assistance handling the paper.
Slockett asked if the results will be combined if there are multiple voting booths. Wiebe said that they will. Wiebe said that if they are in the sure count mode, the paper record is the official ballot and won’t have a tally until they’ve done the scan. If the system is running in the mode of a traditional DRE, vote information is recorded in each of the machines. When a ballot is cast it is counted in multiple locations within the machines. The machines are connected to the voter controlled work station. The vote is sent during the day to the voting administered work station. At the end of the night the information will be in the voting administered work station and will be there until the polls are closed. The ballots are not able to be viewed during the day so no one can tell who cast the vote or what the current vote totals are.
Wiebe said that the polls can only be closed once during the day and it is a password protected function. As part of the ballot creating process they assign passwords. When certain functions such as opening the polls, closing the polls and spoiling ballots are done, a password is required.
Slockett asked what happens if a voter runs off with a ballot. Wiebe said that the ballot hasn’t been counted if they are in sure count mode. Slockett asked what happens if they are in DRE mode and the person runs off with their ballot. Wiebe said that there would be no way of counting that vote because it had not been entered into the system.
Deputy Auditor Julie Gilmere asked if printing can still take place if it is in DRE mode. Wiebe answered yes. The paper trail is now for verification purposes and not for printing the ballots. Slockett asked what would happen if a voter ran of with the paper trail. Wiebe said that most voters would put the ballot in the box and it would be taken care of through polling place procedures. The voter has two things to return to the poll workers, a piece of paper and the Go Vote card. He added that no matter what, someone should be monitoring people as they leave.
L. Greenwood asked who uses the scanner. Wiebe said that the voter or pollworker can use the scanner. He continued that there is still an auditable situation if the ballot has been removed. Once a vote is scanned it is recorded and it becomes apparent if a ballot is missing. Wiebe said that this is an incident that could happen today and procedures need to be in place.
Wiebe invited people to work with the system. He initialized a Go Vote card. On the Go Vote card screen if there is a split precinct there would be a drop down list. Wiebe explained that if it is a provisional voter the card can be flagged. He said that each machine is set up to support every ballot style in the County. It then controls which ballot styles can be seen at each polling place. This prevents anyone from selecting the wrong ballot style for that polling place. R. Sullivan asked if the list of eligible voters is still in paper books or if they are on the laptop. Wiebe said that they are still in the books so a wall can be created between the voter rolls and the actual election process. Anderson asked how many backup Go Vote cards come with the system. Wiebe said that it depends on how big the precincts are. He added that there is no need to have one card for each registered voter as the cards can be reused throughout the day.
Slockett asked what the maximum number of ballot styles is that can be stored in each precinct. Wiebe said that either 14 million or 14 billion can be stored at the same time. He said that they wanted to develop a product so that someday a person would be able to vote in any polling place anywhere in their state.
Wiebe said that there is a write-in button that when pushed brings up a keyboard on the screen. There are two arrangements of keyboard available, one that looks like a computer keyboard and one that keeps all of the characters in alphanumeric order. He continued saying that the voter uses the keyboard to enter their choice for a write-in. L. Greenwood asked what happens if the name is spelled wrong. Slockett said that the name doesn’t have to be spelled correctly. Wiebe said that the system does not correct any spelling or grammar. He explained that the name is then recorded and printed as proof of the vote. The write-ins can be manually counted or they can be counted as part of the central count process. He said that there is a specific function that can be done at the central count function and central cite processing to process the write-ins. Anderson asked what happens with write-ins for Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Wiebe said that the system has to recognize all write-ins and that it does not make any judgments as to the legitimacy of the write-in candidate. It records what the voter entered and it is up to the people to decide if it counts or not.
Stutsman asked how the ballot is kept private if it is handed to the pollworker to be scanned. Wiebe said that privacy sleeves can be used. Accupoll is also working on a scanner feeder that would allow the voter to scan the ballot without any poll worker interaction.
I. Greenwood asked about the backup for power failure. Wiebe unplugged the system and showed that there was no loss of data. Federal standards require at least 2 hours of battery backup. Wiebe said that the biggest drain on the battery is the printer. Each machine in the process has a battery backup of at least two hours. The votes are recorded on a hard drive as well as in flash memory.
Anderson asked about handicap accessibility and curbside voting. Wiebe said that there are two options. One option is to take a paper ballot to the voter for it to be marked. That process would require that the ballot be scanned later. He explained that because the machines can also operate independently if the network goes down, the machine can also be taken to the curb and marked by the voter outside. The keypad is on a tether and each button has brail and is a unique shape. Only the skip and vote buttons are needed to vote. There are also plug-ins for sip and puff devices. The keypad could sit in the voters lap or be handed to them using the keypad and the audio ballot. The audio is a human voice and not a computer generated voice. The audio supplied by default is lengthy and could be tailored. He played the audio to present it as an example. Wiebe said that it is time consuming for a blind person to cast a write-in vote but there is not really another way around it. Wiebe explained that the system’s font can be set to sizes varying from 3 millimeters to 6.5 millimeters. Voters can change sizes of fonts and contrast settings on the screen such as a black and white screen or to eliminate red green colorblind. He pointed out that all settings always return to the default after each voter. The touch screen system is an eight wire screen and is self calibrated for life. The screen can also receive a non-human touch to accommodate people that have a prosthetic limb or don’t want to touch the screen. Anderson asked if the screen can be detached and made flat. Wiebe said that it can be mounted at different heights but it is only set at one angle.
Slockett asked how much the system weighs. Wiebe said that the machines weigh about 45 pounds because they have the battery and printer. He added that they do have handles and wheels for easy mobility.
Pollworker Marilyn Jensen asked what would keep a voter from spoiling a ballot more than three times. Wiebe said that with this version of the system it is up to the pollworker to keep track. He added that a possible future requirement under Federal guidelines would mandate that the system keep track of the number of spoils. Gilmere said that the only time the voter will have to keep track of the spoiled ballot is after it has been printed. Wiebe said that after the voter spoils a ballot they can go back to any machine so as to not hold up a polling place. There is nothing that ties the machines to the cards and vice versa.
Weibe said that this is a significant investment for most counties. Everything in the unit is off the shelf hardware. Parts are always maintainable. The computer is set up to be more powerful than needed. There is plenty of space in the machine for it to grow. The software is based on Linux, Java, XML, and Unicode. Linux is an open source operating system which is public domain software. Java is also public domain software, and XML is an open standard. Unicode is a font set that allows any written language to be displayed. The system is geared to be upgradeable if election laws change. Slockett asked about the controversy for open source and proprietary code. Wiebe said that they need to separate the operating system and the application. He explained that most manufacturers run very proprietary systems and keep that close to their chest. Advocates for open systems say that this can be a problem because then the system is not very transparent. He said that this is why there should be a direct verified audit trail.
L. Greenwood asked where the machines are made. Wiebe said that the voting machines are made in North Carolina but that the laptops are all standard laptops.
Johnson County Elections Staff Member Mona Shaw asked about counting absentee ballots. Wiebe said that they could continue to use the optical scanning system for absentee. If the County would like to purchase all new equipment Accupoll uses a ballot on demand system. The software is not Windows, but looks very similar to a Windows type application. Pollworker Richard Jensen said that currently absentee votes have to be taken back to the absentee ballot board. He said that they would still be scanned in a central location just as they are today. Slockett asked how the scanner is programmed. Wiebe said that a template that overlays the absentee ballot is created. He said when the ballot is scanned the PC attached to the scanner detects which type of ballot it is. The PC then uses the template to read the ballot markings. Slockett asked if it would be on the network. Wiebe said that the decision is really about security and what the County wants as to whether the templates are on the network or not. They have security suggestions for the system and would recommend that the PC not be accessible from someone outside election central.
At 3:05 p.m. the program recessed to allow people to use the equipment; reconvened at 4:12 p.m.
Stutsman welcomed everybody and thanked them for attending the presentation. Stutsman said that the Board of Supervisors will be meeting at 9:00 a.m. on May 4, 2005 to review the presentations. Stutsman thanked the Auditor's Office for organizing the voting systems demonstrations.
Matt Parrott and Sons Representative for Diebold Chris Vadner said that Matt Parrot is an Iowa based company with the home office located in Waterloo. They have 14 sales reps throughout the state of Iowa. Matt Parrott has a site where ballots are printed in Iowa City. If the County chooses to do business with Matt Parrott the money will be spent in Iowa. Vadner explained that their presentation will focus on pollworker training and voting requirements. She said that if the poll workers aren’t well trained there will be a bad election. Diebold equipment is highly reliable and easy to use but the pollworkers have to be trained well.
Diebold’s primary business is banks and ATMs so security and accuracy are important to Diebold and Matt Parrot. Vadner said that the touch screen and paper system work concurrently and are integrated. The same software tabulates the equipment. There can be any combinations of components used. Vadner said that the carrying case is also the voting booth and weighs 26 pounds including the DRE. The booth can be angled at many different angles. The legs can be folded to allow it to be a tabletop model. In addition, the screen can be removed to allow the system to be used for curbside voting or in the lap of someone in a wheelchair. The removable screen weighs about 13 pounds. When the equipment is turned on in the morning it automatically creates a zeroes report. The pollworkers check the report, fold it up, and seal the printer cover. The pollworker verifies on the screen that the vote is zero also. The polls are then opened. The same process is used for multiple machines. There is a battery backup when the machine is unplugged. There is a 6 hour battery backup with a lifespan of 5 years.
Vadner next went over voting procedures. First the pollworker will take the smart card and put the card in the encoder and code it. The card will be placed in the voting booth by the voter. A language screen is optional. It will do any language that is programmable. The first screen is a text screen. The font and contrast are changeable for people with vision issues. The next button advances through the screens. Anything can be used to touch the screen to make a choice on the ballot. When a voter wants to cast a write-in vote a keypad comes up and the person can type their choice in. The voter does not have to vote every race but has to view every screen. Once all of the choices have been made a summary screen is shown. At this point the voter can go back to previous pages to change votes. Vadner said that from the summary page the voter can cast their ballot. Once the vote has been cast the card can’t be used in the machine again. Gilmere asked if the system stops the voter from overvoting. Vadner said yes.
Vadner took the screen to Goodwill Industries Representative Marc Rahe to show the ADA capabilities. Johnson County Coalition for Persons with Disabilities Representative Louise Young asked about the provisions for persons with vision impairments. Stutsman asked if people have to vote in the polling place. Slockett said that Iowa law allows curbside voting. Vadner said that people who are visually impaired might need assistance placing the card in the machine. Vadner plugged in speakers to show how the system works for the visually impaired. A visually impaired person using the system on voting day would use headphones and the standard ADA keypad. Any machine can be an ADA unit. Several different types of ADA screens can be brought up. For the blind, the card will be programmed to bring up a blank screen and a human voice will be played. Johnson County Council of Governments Human Services Coordinator Linda Severson used the system programmed for a blind person. Stutsman said that candidate’s names on the ballots are rotated. She asked if this will be done in the system. Vadner said that candidates will be rotated through the software, just like they are on paper. Young asked what people do who have trouble with hand mobility. Vadner said that people can use a stylus to vote. Young asked about people who are both deaf and blind. Vadner said that their company has 300 people in research and development and are working on options.
Vadner said that poll workers don’t need to be technological wizards to work the system. Vadner demonstrated how to use the card initializer. Vadner said that using the DRE equipment for early voting is very nice, but Iowa law doesn’t allow it to be used. Vadner said that absentee voting will still be done by mail. Young said that it sounds like the law should be changed. Slockett said that other states do have the ability to vote early on electronic equipment. He said that is another reason that things should be stored on a paper trail. Slockett said that Diebold does have electronic machines with paper ballot ability, but didn’t bring it along. Slockett said that Diebold demonstrated the voter verified paper audit trail at the annual ADA celebration a year ago. Vadner said that the machine she is presenting today doesn’t have the paper record. She said that this machine is good for the disabled community because there isn’t paper to deal with.
R. Sullivan asked where the vote goes from the unit. Vadner said that it is recorded in a hard format in the machine and in two memory cards. Once a ballot is on the card it is on there until the memory card is cleared. Vadner said that Diebold equipment is reliable. She has stored the equipment outside in the winter. Anderson asked how durable the machine is since it is removable. He asked what would happen if someone dropped it. Vadner said that she wouldn’t encourage dropping it, but she has dropped it and it still worked. She said that there is a calibration screen and it is possible that if it were dropped it would need re-calibrated. She added that the re-calibration process is very simple. Vadner said that the votes would still be on the memory card even if the screen quit working. Slockett asked if the paper trail works with the unit being presented. Vadner said yes.
R. Sullivan asked how a recount would be handled. Vadner said that today there is an internal audit log that could be used. The other thing that could be used is a ballot representation.
Young said that when she worked as a pollworker there were a lot of write-ins. Vadner said that this system doesn’t stop write in votes but helps with the tabulation of them. It prints tabulations of the write-ins on the totals tape. She said that write-ins for the same person will be tabulated together when the totals tape prints. However, spelling errors or other discrepancies with the way people write in a name can result in separate tabulation of votes for the same people. The final decision as to who the vote goes to would be made by the election board.
R. Sullivan said that at any polling place there might be several units and that all of that information needs to get back to a central location. Vadner said that the equipment has a download device. She said that the cards can be removed and the software accumulates the data from the precinct. They can also accumulate the data in the precinct and get a totals tape. There would be a totals tape from each machine. There is a phone jack from the machine that can download the data to the Administration Building. If they accumulate data to one machine they would have to phone modem only once. It could be done different ways for different elections. Slockett asked if the totals are also maintained separately if they have been accumulated. Vadner said yes. R. Sullivan asked if the programming is done by the Auditor's Office or Diebold. Vadner said that either way would work, but with the size of Johnson County she would think that the County would want to buy the software and program it themselves.
Anderson said that during the day the pollworkers call in voter totals at different times. He asked if pollworkers would have to take the totals from all machines. Vadner said that they would have to add the total from all of the machines. Anderson asked if the pollworker will have a vote total on a screen or if they will have to take it from each machine. Vadner said that they will have to take the data from each machine.
Harney asked about the paper trail. Vadner said that the paper will print out what is on the summary screen. Anderson asked if the printer is on a ribbon. Vadner said that the paper is thermal paper and available at any supply store.
Vadner said that at the end of the day, the pollworker puts their smart card into the machine and chooses the option to end the election. The report will then print. She explained that to accumulate the reports they put the different cards in the machines and press the load button. Vadner said that the machine will not take the same card twice. It will say that the information has already been downloaded.
Anderson asked how far the card is sticking out of the machine. Vadner said that there is a bit of the card sticking out of the machine. Anderson said that he was thinking that they could put a security sticker on it so that the card could not be taken out of the polling place. Vadner said that such a decision would be up to the County, but that most places have their poll workers at the door handing out “I Voted” stickers and that is where they collect the cards. She said that the card only tells the machine what ballot style to load, there is no other information on the card. Anderson asked if there was a way that someone could take the card home and make it active again so they could come back and vote again. Vadner said that even if a person had a bunch of the cards they would need an encoder to activate the cards. She said that if someone did have an encoder it would be the same as if someone could print a bunch of ballots.
Vadner said that they will work with the County as long as needed. She said that she will be in the County all day on Election Day from the beginning to the end helping poll workers and making sure everything goes well.
Slockett asked Vadner if they are submitting equipment costs and support costs to the State. Vadner said yes, but not until May 16. She said that Diebold is doing the State RFP and they will discount the equipment. Diebold has done surveys and has found out the average pollworker in the country is a 70-year-old woman, so their equipment is designed with that in mind.
Vadner asked if Johnson County is thinking about staying with a primarily paper based system. Slockett said that is the plan. Vadner explained that the DRE would be used to satisfy the ADA portion of HAVA. The paper scanner system weighs 37.3 pounds. When the pollworker gets to the precinct will take the cord out of the bag. There is a security bar in the ballot box that can be removed with a key. The scanner will be taken out of the bag. Procedurally it is the same as the TSX. It has a red on-off switch and six hour battery backup using a standard off the shelf battery. When it is turned on a zeros report is generated. There is a black key that unlocks all of the locks on the ballot box. There is a red key for the scanner. The zeros report is the same on both machines.
R. Sullivan left at 5:05 p.m.
Vadner said that many counties in Iowa don’t have phones in all of their polling places so they can’t use phone modems, but that they may be able to in the future so the machines are equipped as such. Slockett asked if they could use the phone modem in some precincts but not in others. Vadner said yes. Slockett said that phone modems would make it possible for rural precincts to have a Democrat and a Republican take the machine to someone’s home and phone modem in the results from there. Vadner said that there are people who do that. Slockett asked if a cell phone could be used for transmission. Vadner said that it is possible, but that the connections are usually unreliable and that they do not encourage it.
Vadner said that their absentee system is different. They do not use a central count scanner. She explained that while the absentee board is opening the ballots they can be counted as just another step of the process. Vadner said that using central count systems can be problematic. During hot weather there can be paper jams and static electricity during cold weather. With the Diebold system, ballot after ballot is placed in the scanner. As the ballots are scanned the count is stored on the memory card. She said that the memory cards cost $250 so most people zero them out after the time period for challenges has passed and zero them out for the next election. Slockett asked if they can be programmed for the central count function to not reject over votes. Vadner said that she isn’t sure why not because it is all software. Vadner said that the only negative that she could see with that is if voter intent could be determined on the ballot. She said that the absentee board would have to make the decision as to weather the ballot should count. Vadner said that the ballots for this system can be printed on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper. She said that this allows more flexibility in printing options. She said that for bigger elections paper size and the numbers of columns can be changed.
Young asked how a challenged ballot would be handled on this system. Vadner said that it would be done the same way it is now. The voter would vote and it would be put in a separate envelope to be taken back to the Administration Building. She added that ballots can be put in the scanner in any way and that the scanner reads both sides at the same time.
Vadner said that the ballot box has three compartments and a diverter so that it kicks ballots with write-ins into a separate bin. All regular ballots will be on the left hand side. There is also an emergency slot. This would be used in the case of a power failure or machine problem. It could also be used if they ran out of ballots. The precinct officials would photocopy the ballots and then place the voted copies into the emergency slot. This will keep them separate until they can be counted by hand later. Vadner said another option to alleviate ballot shortages is to have all voters vote on the touch screen.
R. Sullivan asked how many counties are using the systems being presented. Vadner said that 15 counties use the paper machines in Iowa. The TSX machine has not been certified in Iowa. All of their equipment has been through Federal certification but they are waiting on the Federal number. The scanner system is approved for use in Iowa. All of Diebold’s equipment is considered to be one system and they are seeking certification as such. She said that they will have one certification number. Vadner added that the whole state of Georgia votes on the equipment she is showing.
Slockett asked if there is ballot on demand capabilities. Vadner said that is available if the software is purchased. She said that she would not recommend doing ballot on demand for all ballots because of the cost. She said that the office would be creating its own ballot copy, and would probably send the ballot to the printer electronically. Slockett asked how many ballot styles the system can handle. Vadner said that they have some jurisdictions with hundreds of ballot styles and could easily handle eighty styles. Slockett and the Board thanked Vadner for the presentation.
Adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary