Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2004 | 10:57 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- How voters cast their ballots in Nevada will be watched almost as closely as which candidate they choose in the November election.
Nevada's "battleground state" status draws attention from the political parties but its status as the only state using an electronic voting machine along with a paper receipt attracts the interest of those monitoring voting methods.
"Nevada will be very important to the 2004 election," said Doug Chapin, executive director of Electionline.org. "It's the first real laboratory, with apologies to the Supreme Court, of democracy."
Electionline.org is a Web site created by the Election Reform Information Project, a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy group funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The project was created in 2000 after the balloting problems in Florida.
Chapin said when all is said and done with the 2004 election, Nevada will be a "real time, real life," example of whether other states should choose the electronic voting with a paper trail voting option.
The whole state is to use Sequoia Voting Systems electronic machines that print out a paper record of how each person voted. The record is stored in the machine.
Some voters in Clark County may still see older electronic machines without the printout option because the state did not have enough time or the correct technology to swap all of Clark County's current voting machines to the new models, according to Secretary of State Dean Heller.
There will be at least one new machine with a printer at each polling place in Clark County so voters can choose whether to use the older machine without the paper or a new one, Secretary of State spokesman Steve George said.
In a report focusing on voting method released today, Chapin and his group dedicate a small section to "Nevada's paper preview."
The report notes that California and Ohio will require similar paper trails by 2006 and Missouri, New Hampshire, Illinois and Oregon will use the attachment to the electronic machine to satisfy a state law that requires the ability to perform manual recounts. Nineteen states debated whether to use the paper trail in 2004, according to the report "Election 2004, What's Changed, What hasn't, and Why."
"If problems occur with electronic machines in November, or if paper trails perform well and boost voter confidence in Nevada, there will likely be a renewed emphasis in state capitals next year," according to the report.
There are federal rules and guidelines, but it is generally up to each state to determine how it runs its election. Chapin said because there is no federal election system, Nevada will be a model for other states' thinking about using the paper trail.
"As other states prepare to implement it, they will be looking to Nevada to embrace or ignore it," he said, at a discussion on election technology at the National Press Club in Washington.
Chapin said after the 2000 election's problems with hanging chads in Florida, interest in electronic voting increased, but after suspicions of electronic tampering grew, people wanted paper again.
The question on everyone's mind was: "Can the voter trust that the vote put in the front of the machine is the same vote counted at the back of the machine," Chapin said.
Paul S. DeGregorio, member of the Election Assistance Commission, said the real test of Nevada's system will be in case of a post-Election Day recount, when the paper trail would likely be used to backup the electronic votes or to add to those not cast on a electronic machine.
"It's going to be an interesting election, not just to see who wins or loses but to see how the technology plays out," DeGregorio said. "We are going to lean a lot from this election."
Chapin said after the election his group, and other secretaries of state and election officials, will be watching to see if alleged problems with the machines in Nevada are true.
Linda H. Lamone, administrator of the Maryland State Board of Elections, said Nevada will have a hard time on Election Day due to the length of time it takes to use the voting machines and wait for the print-out.
"It is hardly a verified voter trail," she said, as she unrolled about a four-foot-long sheet of paper, a paper receipt from another election, to illustrate her point. She said most voters will not even look at the sheet or want to wait for it to print.
"They (voters) want to get in there, vote and leave," Lamone said. "The printers are going to jam. They are."
She said "voters are going to go ballistic," in the case of a printer jam because if the voter has to call a technician over for help, the technician may see the final ballot on the screen and know how the person voted.
She also said blind voters may sue because there is no way for them to see their receipt and the paper is only available in English.
George said the new machines have an audio option so blind voters can hear their choices and say their vote into a microphone. Spanish ballots are available in Clark County, in numbers based on the Hispanic percentage of the population.
For September's primary election, an audit of the electronic voting machines and their paper receipts showed no variation in the election results, according to Secretary of State Dean Heller's office. Some problems with the machine, as in Washoe County where the cartridges were not delivered on time, are being addressed, he said.
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