This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Nearly six years after Florida's voting debacle forced America to come up with a new way to cast ballots, Utahns will head to the polls Tuesday to choose a candidate by tapping a computer screen.
No more punching a hole in a paper card. Voters now will use one of 7,463 new electronic voting machines in their polling places, the result of fears about the reliability of paper ballots.
Officials pledge a smooth election, though they acknowledge there will be problems introducing a new technology to voters. And they've ramped up Election Day assistance just in case.
"I expect there will be hiccups," says Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, the state's election chief. "But I would caution everybody that there are hiccups in every election."
Diebold, the vendor that sold the devices to the state, is fielding a team of 210 roving employees to help out at the 953 polling places in action. Each county has a help desk a call away. Poll workers have taken extra training in setting up, operating and closing down the new machines.
Election officials hope it's enough to cope with any quirk that pops up.
"We're real prepared," Diebold spokesman David Bear says.
Only one of Utah's 29 counties won't have some type of election Tuesday, and though turnout is expected to be low, the new voting technology may add a few bumps to the process. The machines were used in three municipal elections last year, but nothing on the scale of the primaries.
"It's history-making and exciting at the same time," Herbert says.
And a bit intimidating.
Debacle brings change: The type of machines voters will find in their local school or library polling spot were used in a few places before the 2000 presidential election. But now, states across America are using the touch-screen devices. All because of some pregnant, dimpled and hanging chads in the Florida election hung up the results for president for a month.
In 2002, as a result, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, phasing out punch-cards and offering funding to replace them with a new type of voting device. Some election officials bought optical-scan technology, while others, like Utah, bought touch-screen devices.
Think of them as an ATM that dispenses a political voice instead of cash.
The machines are meant to be user-friendly. Voters are shown instructions on how to use the device on the first screen and can ask for help throughout the process. Selecting a candidate is as simple as touching a box with your finger. An "X" appears next to the name, and the voter can continue to the next page by hitting the "Next" button.
The device also allows a voter to change his or her mind and has a review screen at the end to ensure the voter meant to cast a ballot the way the machine will record it. Lastly, the machine will print a voting receipt, a paper record the voter reviews before it rolls up into the machine in case of a recount.
The touch-screen machines also will allow the visually impaired to independently vote a secret ballot for the first time. Those with sight problems have in the past had to rely on a friend, relative or poll worker to cast a vote as they intended, but the new machines mean those voters can use a keypad and earphones to make their own choices.
Controversies and choice:
Not everyone is looking forward to using the new technology for voting, especially a crowd of computer technicians who say the machines are not secure. Some critics fear the devices can be easily hacked into and results changed.
"In my mind, I still know the vulnerability of these machines," says Bruce Funk, the former Emery County clerk who was relieved of his position after allowing a group critical of the machines to see if they could hack into the device. They did.
Computer scientists from Washington-state-based Black Box Voting found what they say is a serious security breach.
"There are multiple levels of back doors" allowing access to tweak the machine's coding, Funk says. "That gives me heartburn."
Thad Hall, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Utah, says election officials know the public will be watching to see how the election goes and will be extra cautious to make sure everything runs well. Hall says there will be "human-machine interaction problems, but the odds of a machine being hacked is quite low."
State and county officials defend the machines' security and say there is no chance someone could break into the device in the middle of a polling station.
"I don't have any concerns about the security of the machines," Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen says. The redundancy built into the machines, including two separate memory devices and a paper printout, along with an audit log to note any changes to the device, ensure its safety, Swensen says.
Lloyd Carr, whose Carr Printing company has been providing ballot materials for Utah elections since 1902, also defends the security of the machines. He admits it's possible to break into the voting machines with an evil intent, but no more possible than stealing the gold from Fort Knox.
The devices have layers of protection, Carr says, and "we don't provide the opportunity to hack into the machine, just like we don't hand a key to someone to rob Fort Knox."
The end tally: With polls showing a close race, the primary battle in the 3rd Congressional District and with various legislative elections across the state, there is a chance a recount could be needed.
Michael Cragun, deputy director of the Lieutenant Governor's Office who handles elections, says there is a process in place to retally the votes, including verifying that the two memory devices are in sync. In the end, the printed receipt is the ultimate record of a voter's intent, Cragun says.
If, for some reason, election officials have to turn to the paper printouts, the count could take awhile, he admits, because there is no ability to add up votes except by hand.
But even if there is no recount and all goes flawlessly Tuesday, officials caution that results won't be flowing in any faster than the punch-card process. In fact, results could be tallied later than usual, clerks warn.
Eventually, officials say results will be in much quicker, but because the technology is new, they are cautioning poll workers to take their time ensuring all procedures are followed.
Cragun says, "We're expecting that it's going to be very smooth."
Utahns definitely would cast their vote for that.