Culver signs off on voting upgrade

April 02, 2008 10:36 am

— DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Chet Culver on Tuesday signed into law a nearly $5 million measure that creates a uniform statewide voting system and provides a paper trail to help if recounts are needed.
“Election administration is a top priority,” said Culver, who as secretary of state was Iowa’s top election official until elected governor in 2006.
The measure contributes $4.9 million in state money to carry out a requirement that all of Iowa’s 99 counties use optical scanning voting machines. Voters using such machines blacken their election choice on a ballot, which is scanned into a database and remains available for use in a recount.
The changeover is expected to cost roughly $9.7 million, with counties picking up the remaining cost.
Such election matters have traditionally been left to county election officials, and as a result the state has a patchwork of voting systems.
Twenty-one of Iowa’s 99 counties now use optical scanning systems, and would see no change. Another 18 counties use touch-screen systems, and the remainder have a combination of touch-screen and optical scan machines.
The worry with touch-screen voting systems is they don’t leave a paper ballot in cases where recounts are needed.
Secretary of State Michael Mauro pushed for the change.
“It’s going to put Iowa out there where we have everybody voting on the same equipment,” said Mauro. “What constitutes a vote in one county will constitute a vote in another county. It gives us a paper trail.”
Officials have been wrestling with the state’s voting system since the disputed 2000 presidential election, and Congress has approved election reforms that give the states money to upgrade and modernize their voting systems.
The measure signed into law was the second election legislation Culver has signed since he became governor. Last year he signed into law a measure allowing same-day voter registration, a move he said will increase turnout in this year’s presidential election.
“The law is projected to increase voter turnout by 5 percent,” said Culver. “Greater access to the polls must coincide with complete confidence in election day practices and procedures.”