Clerks see high costs for Ritter vote plan

Counties float big numbers if paper ballots mandated

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 25, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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George Kochaniec Jr. / The Rocky

June Sallady and Roger Dockum count ballots in a test to compare hand-counting with machine counts Tuesday at the El Paso County Motor Vehicles building in Colorado Springs.

Gov. Bill Ritter's new plan to have voters statewide cast paper ballots at polling places in 2008 elections could cost counties more than $10 million just to buy the machines to count the ballots, county clerks said Thursday.

That estimate does not include a myriad of other expenses, such as hiring scores of election judges, renting space for polling sites and printing truckloads of ballots.

And costs could skyrocket if Secretary of State Mike Coffman's decision to decertify electronic voting and tallying machines used in all but 12 counties does not change after appeals are heard.

Federal law requires counties to have certified electronic voting machines for the disabled.

"I think this is a huge disservice to our taxpayers," Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty said Thursday. She estimates that it would cost her $4 million to buy scanners that she doesn't currently have to tally paper ballots.

'Step backwards'

The new costs come at a time when counties are cash-strapped, set in their budgets and already displeased with recent spending on new voting systems.

In the last few years, counties across Colorado spent nearly $24 million to purchase electronic voting and tallying equipment to comply with a 2002 federal law. Just over $15 million came from federal coffers and the rest was paid by county tax dollars, election officials said.

Now, county clerks must change again - this time away from technology. And they have hundreds of new machines sitting in warehouses that might never be used again.

"It's a mess," Doty said.

"This is a step backwards. Elections have not been in chaos in Colorado. So why are we doing this?"

The uncertainty began Dec. 17 when Coffman decertified voting machines used in six counties and tallying machines used in 49 counties because of security and accuracy flaws.

Since then, clerks have been pushing for all-mail ballots for 2008 elections while voter activists have been advocating paper ballots filled out at precinct voting places.

Electronic voting has fallen out of favor because of reviews such as Coffman's - and others in California and Ohio - that led to significant restrictions in the use of the machines.

Equipment manufacturers and about 50 counties have appealed Coffman's decertifications.

A new bill that would give him more flexibility to recertify machines after modifications and further testing is moving quickly through the legislature.

"We're confident many, if not all, of the optical scanning machines will be recertified," Ritter's spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said Thursday.

Only one county ready

On Wednesday, Ritter and legislative leaders announced the paper- precinct voting proposal, expected to be introduced in the legislature next week.

Details are still being worked out, including how expenses would be paid, sponsors said.

Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, said clerks gave him an estimate of $3.5 million in potential cost to counties.

He said he's expecting clerks to ask for money - "And when they do we'll look at it."

Only one county in Colorado, Boulder, follows the system proposed by Ritter and legislative leaders, according to Boulder County Clerk Hillary Hall.

All the rest would have to adapt their voting methods to varying degrees. Some counties, like Douglas, can retrofit some electronic machines to accommodate disabled voters, at a cost of about $200,000.

Totally electronic

Other counties that went totally electronic - such as Adams, Arapahoe and Jefferson - predict that they would have to spend between $1 million and $4 million to buy tallying machines to count the paper ballots at polling sites.

Costs could be lower if ballots were counted at a central office.

Josh Liss, deputy of elections for Jefferson County, said his county spent $6.5 million in 2002 ($1.86 million came from federal funds) for its fleet of electronic machines.

He estimates that it would cost $1.7 million to buy tallying machines for polling places if Ritter's plan becomes law.

That's not including more than $1 million the county might need to spend to replace decertified electronic voting machines.

It also doesn't include maintenance and software costs for new machines, printing costs for paper ballots, salaries for hundreds of judges and renting polling sites.

"Unless (Ritter's proposal) has funding attached to it, the voters of Jefferson County are going to be asked to bear the brunt of this expense, and I don't think that's fair," Liss said.

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2361

Voting machine costs

Clerks say

these are the costs under the new plan:

COUNTY COST FOR NEW MACHINES

Arapahoe $4 million

Denver* $1.5 million

Jefferson $1.7 million

Adams $2.2 million

Douglas $200,000

Money spent on electronic voting and tallying machines

to comply with the 2002 Help America Vote Act

COUNTY TOTAL HAVA FUNDS

Adams $2,500,000 $954,000

Alamosa $77,130 $74,300

Arapahoe $1,162,400 $1,162,400

Archuleta $56,100 $56,100

Baca $87,700 $87,700

Bent $89,700 $89,700

Boulder $3,100,000 $1,080,700

Broomfield $56,491 $56,491

Chaffee $131,000 $131,000

Cheyenne $60,000 $57,840

Clear Creek $198,652 $114,300

Conejos n/a $110,250

Costilla n/a $80,550

Crowley n/a $61,830

Custer n/a $78,979

Delta $113,655 $71,800

Denver n/a $1,465,650

Dolores n/a $45,540

Douglas $1,315,756 $675,050

Eagle $300,000 $115,700

Elbert $82,000 $118,350

Fremont $102,000 $161,478

Garfield $157,875 $126,200

Gilpin $109,002 $83,300

Grand $54,000 $111,800

Gunnison $10,000 $104,742

Hinsdale $52,100 $52,100

Huerfano n/a $87,850

Jackson n/a $35,640

Jefferson $6,550,000 $1,861,624

Kiowa $77,450 $46,500

Kit Carson $112,000 $110,482

Lake $80,000 $70,650

La Plata $114,000 $110,050

Larimer $854,000 $854,000

Las Animas $221,000 $134,200

Lincoln $97,148 $78,350

Logan n/a $131,150

Mesa $1,758,500 $812,560

Mineral n/a $26,679

Moffat $132,400 $124,150

Montezuma $81,000 $60,763

Montrose $434,526 $231,273

Morgan $220,855 $124,750

Otero $185,150 $131,150

Ouray $57,100 $57,100

Park $170,733 $133,400

Phillips $93,695 $93,695

Pitkin $98,954 $71,950

Prowers $132,832 $115,300

Pueblo n/a $671,750

Rio Blanco $157,705 $89,700

Rio Grande $135,976 $131,976

Routt $284,730 $140,750

Saguache n/a $60,000

San Juan $37,945 $37,945

San Miguel n/a $108,150

Sedgwick n/a $95,500

Summit $185,000 $137,400

Teller $62,858 $62,350

Washington $135,445 $109,400

Weld $1,282,061 $669,700

Yuma $101,250 $101,250

Responding $23,669,874 $15,246,987

*-Denver hopes to spend only an additional $340,000 if permitted to count ballots at the central office.

• January 25, 2008

  8:59 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  RickyLee writes:

  Funny how there's been paper ballots, like, almost forever.
  Then the government decides it's better to use electronic machines,
  except they don't work, for one reason or another.
  (We're from the government, we're here to "help")
  I wonder why they need tens of millions for this. I'm not buying that. I don't think a bunch of temporary workers to count ballots would cost that much.

  This smacks of just another excuse to raise taxes...oops...
  I mean "fees".

• January 25, 2008

  9:15 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  jibbons writes:

  This is a what happens when you let a bunch of people who are intimately involved in the political process decide how to count ballots.

  The truth is that this is what we should have done before the republicans tried to get everyone to use a black box digital machine with back doors. Having a bunch of people using scanners to count is much safer than letting a couple of computer scientists count all of the votes in a closed room.

  I don't like the extra cost, but I sure do like a transparent election.

• January 25, 2008

  9:51 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  RickyLee writes:

  Yeah Froward, just let's not mention Ritters plan to increase auto registrations $100. a year, or increase gas tax .13 cents, or the sneak attack on property taxes, under the TABOR radar.

  Yeah, keep defending the worthless Ritter.

  I WONDER WHERE ALL THE REF.C MONEY IS GOING?!?!?!?!?!

• January 25, 2008

  10:19 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Frank25 writes:

  Living in Arapahoe County I welcomed the absentee ballot and trust it to be more secure then the paper ballots and counters of the Tammany Hall or Chicago Daly Machine days. Was cheaper then with votes being bought for a drink or a lunch. But we know who controlled NY & Chicago for decades, with some of that still existing. I used to go stand in Vaughn school, disrupting their functions, and used a touch screen machine that I DID NOT TRUST. Touch screen barely works on microwave ovens. With absentee ballot, registered by number, and my voting address, the county database is current since ballot will not be forwarded. I complete my ballot at home,sign back of envelope, and record birth date, and drop it at Alameda & Chambers drivers license office. It is date stamped on envelope when received, and I do this within a few days of receiving it, so I can ignore the robo calls and trash in my mail box. When I re-registered UNAFFILIATED in mid-2006,I showed photo ID and completed a new form with address, birthplace, date, signature. I feel very secure with this system and want it continued. IS IT NOT IRONIC THAT RITTER WANTS TO USE SYSTEM THAT FAILED SO MISERABLY FOR DENVER CITY-COUNTY IN THE LAST ELECTION? And I find it amusing and frustrating that the only two counties in Florida with voting problems were democratic counties, with heavy population of illegal aliens. No matter how much gnashing of teeth, whining, and claims of "election stolen in 2000 and 2004, outside news media could not find such evidence. Just like UFO, Lincoln conspiracy, Kennedy conspiracy, it is all in their heads. I can shop on-line, over secure lines, with encrypted purchase order and pay by credit card, but cannot vote through same means. Why???? And a few machines at county offices should satisfy federal requirement for disabled voters.

• January 25, 2008

  3:58 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  coloradovoter writes:

  So, how exactly were they planning on counting mail ballots? I'm assuming machines are required for that as well. This sounds like a whole lot of whinning because the clerks didn't get their way. Good for Ritter for comming up with a solution that benefits the voters. Personally, after voting in Denver in 2006, I'm going to sign-up for an absentee ballot this year.

• January 26, 2008

  1:21 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Frank25 writes:

  For Coloradovoter: Wise decision to request absentee ballot. More secure, can be voted at home, and mailed or dropped at nearest county designated office. Date-stamped when received. Have voted absentee since program was authorized, and ballots arrive automatically about 3 weeks before. Received last ballot, and voted it, returning it to nearby county office 2 days later. One election my ballot had not arrived week before, I went to same office. Clerk cancelled registration number of ballot mailed (if someone else got it and voted it, they would investigate), but issued me new ballot with new number, I voted it at the counter, and handed it back to clerk in sealed envelope, who date-stamped it IN. Any other ballots arriving with my name or address would be investigated. I can drop ballot or mail it on warm, sunny day and not take chance of blizzard, ice, or other conditions (or being ill) on scheduled day. I feel 100% sure of my vote being secure, and available. It is up to the County officials to scan it and count the vote, but I feel it is much harder to "stuff the box" as Tammany Hall, Chicago Daly Machine, and other cities or areas are known for. Also more difficult for dead people to vote, or anyone "to come early and vote often". I also Emailed my prior post to Sec. Mike Coffman, Sen. Hagadorn, Rep. Garcia, and Arap. County Clerk Nancy Doty. I believe Arapahoe County has its stuff together on this, and don't want to see State mess it up because Boulder, Denver, and Aspen want their own system. At age 78 I get a bit testy about voting, since I was refused the vote in 1956 in my home state by poll watchers in same office I registered in about 100 days before. I am unaffiliated voter since mid-2006.

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