So why are some officials talking about putting the costly lot of electronic touch screens behind bars? Banishing a beacon of open elections to Oxbow Jail?

Because the empty pen is cool. And hot. And free.

"It's sitting there doing nothing," County Councilman David Wilde says about Oxbow. "We own it."

Despite objections from the sheriff, Wilde contends storing the ATM-like machines in the South Salt Lake jail could save taxpayers more than $100,000 a year. That's the estimated cost to the county to lease a climate-controlled building - with an automated electric charging system - to house nearly 3,000 voting devices needed to satisfy the Help America Vote Act of 2002, a federal mandate.

A high price to pay to be rid of those irksome punch pins and chary chads of past elections.

And if the higher-tech devices can't conform with the jail, which the sheriff wants to reopen, Wilde wonders about parking them in the county's underground garage.

"As long as it's your stall," his colleagues retorted this week.

Indeed, democracy is about to get a lot more expensive in Salt Lake County.

That bothers County Clerk Sherrie Swensen.

"The feds did not foresee all of the things that go along with the equipment," she laments. "It's very, very underfunded."

Already, the county has approved spending $300,000 for six new positions to aid the voting transition. And depending on the fate of early voting, taxpayers may be billed another $360,000 for 100 additional machines.

After past elections, Swensen used to stack eight antiquated "vote-o-matics" to a box and stuff all of them on a basement shelf.

Suddenly, she's faced with securing a 16,000-square-foot warehouse, then finding the staff to tend the high-maintenance machines. Besides being kept cool, the devices must be repeatedly charged so the batteries don't fry. A loading dock must be built and employees trained to burn memory cards and do accuracy tests.

"It's very labor intensive," says Swensen, already recruiting more poll and temporary workers.

The monthly cost of the warehouse alone could reach $12,000. And to comply with HAVA - the state will spend $27 million in federal funds for the Diebold Election Systems machines - the building must be loaded and locked by Jan. 1.

After reviewing 60 warehouse listings, county real estate officials have settled on an empty building at 2490 S. Lawndale Drive (300 West). Objections from Wilde aside, the County Council is expected to approve a three-year lease there early next month.

Long-term, using one of the county's two underground parking lots for storage may be an option, says Lee Colvin with the real estate office.

But clogging the other "would virtually torpedo the Meals on Wheels."

Swensen says she's uncomfortable with the cost the county must bear, but is holding out hope the Legislature will provide relief. She argues the federal government "didn't take into consideration the big picture" of what the switch to touch-screen voting might require.

Like sticking symbols of freedom behind prison walls or cramming them into a dark garage.

djensen@sltrib.com