Editorial: Use best technology for voting

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000 | 9:55 a.m.

No matter who wins the presidency, which still is undecided a week after Election Day, the problems surrounding the presidential election call out for an overhaul of the way that many states and local governments conduct elections. Florida's snafus are well documented, whether it's the confusing "butterfly" ballot design in Palm Beach County or an antiquated punch-card ballot system that has resulted in inaccurate counts.

Much of the attention on the mistakes has centered on Florida because once a final tally is reached there, the winner of that state in turn will capture the White House. But other states around the nation also have experienced voting irregularities. For instance, on Election Night Al Gore appeared to have won New Mexico by 6,000 votes. But a short time later it was revealed that problems in one county prevented thousand of votes from being counted. Once they started to tabulate the missing ballots, at one point Bush actually was ahead by four votes. Bush's lead vanished Tuesday, though, after it was discovered that an election worker incorrectly thought Gore had 120 absentee votes in one county, when it actually was 620 votes. In New Hampshire, meanwhile, proofreading and computer errors initially overstated Bush's margin of victory by about 1,000 votes un til they were subsequently caught.

In most elections the winning candidate has a comfortable margin of victory. So while these same problems have surfaced before, local or state officials usually haven't believed it's worth the money to use more reliable voting systems, especially since the close races are nowhere near the scale of a presidential election. This year's results, however, should serve as a wake-up call for states with antiquated voting systems. If other states are looking for a road map of how to improve the counting of ballots, they should turn to Clark County's experience in making voting easier.

Clark County once used the now controversial punch-card system that has caused so much angst in Florida this year. But in 1993 Clark County hired a new registrar of voters, Kathryn Ferguson, who fundamentally changed voting here. In addition to advocating state legislation in 1993 that allowed early voting, Ferguson also convinced the Clark County Commission to use a new computerized voting system, starting in 1996. These new machines resemble touch-screen ATM machines, with easy to read ballots. Despite this significant improvement in voting, there were some at the time who bitterly resisted going from paper to electronic balloting. But those voices of dissent have disappeared as voting in Clark County couldn't be easier today.

What this presidential election has proven is the growing disparity between the states -- and even between counties within the states -- on how they conduct their elections. There is no foolproof method to conduct elections absent of mistakes. But the errors created under the current punch-card system, which is believed to be used by one-third of the electorate, has proven that it is obsolete. It is essential that the states start putting in place voting systems that not only are easy to use, but that also ensure votes actually are counted. It's embarrassing that the most technologically advanced nation in the world is still conducting its elections as if it were the 19th century.

One of the most important lessons from this year's razor-thin presidential election is that every vote counts. But if the nation doesn't put in place more reliable voting machines, then there is the very real risk that many people will just shrug off future elections with the feeling that their vote won't even be counted if they show up. This is a critical issue that can't be ignored after a president ultimately is chosen.