Friday, July 5, 2002
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Friday, July 5, 2002 |
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Electronic voting machines headed for Coweta in the fall By JOHN
THOMPSON
The Coweta County Commission got an up-close look Tuesday at the future of elections in Georgia. Russ Madison, Jr., who works with voter education, appeared before the board Tuesday and showed the commission the new electric voting machines that will be used in the November elections. The machines are manufactured by Diebold, which has been in the security business for years, Madison said. Diebold was also one of the pioneers in ATM technology and was awarded the $50 million contract to outfit all the state's counties with electronic machines by this fall, he added. Madison set up a machine and said voters would register at the polls like they have in the past. After the registration, the voter would be handed a card, similar to an ATM card, that unlocks the voting machine. Once the machine is unlocked, a screen appears, and voters touch the candidate of their choice. Madison said the voter has opportunities to change his mind before the vote is cast, and the technology will not allow a voter to vote for two candidates in the same race. The machines are not networked, so there is no danger of computer hackers destroying the information in the machines, he said. There is also an audio option for blind voters. "This will allow for the first time those voters to vote totally by themselves without any assistance," he said. To show how easy the system is to use, Madison asked one of the commissioners to cast a vote. Commissioner Lawrence Nelms tried out the system and proclaimed it very user-friendly. Residents will use the old paper ballots in the August primary, but use the new touch screens in November.
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