Miami County will address voting issues after March primary

Touch-screen machines that failed during testing removed from service.

Miami County’s Board of Elections officials said they would address concerns with aging voting machines and a separate voter registration system following the March 15 primary.

Brett Rapp, president of voter registration system vendor Triad, said that issues first experienced around Christmas with the system appear to be resolved. He said he and his staff, however, would be available if any issues arise during early voting, which began last week.

>> EARLIER: Voting machines have ‘myriad of problems’

Elections Director Bev Kendall said, if possible, she would like to continue using that system for this year’s election while looking at possible replacements, including an option from Triad.

The board also was told by staff there are 30 extra touch-screen voting machines that could be taken to polling places Election Day, if needed. The board heard Feb. 11 that some machines had to be removed from service during pre-election accuracy/logic testing because the machine jumped a vote from one candidate to another during test voting.

The person who reported the problem and was in charge of testing said he couldn’t guarantee a similar error wouldn’t occur during voting but said overall he was confident the county was “going to put on a good election.”

Board Chairman Kelly Gillis agreed.

“I want people to feel confident,” he said of voting in the county.

In looking at voting system options, Gillis said the board also is hoping money from the state or federal government will be available to help replace the machines.

Miami County’s more than 350 machines were purchased in 2005 using more than $1 million in federal Help America Vote Act grants. The purchase ended the county’s use of an optical scanning system that was in use in 2001 when the office was placed on state oversight following problems during a fall 2001 election in which some voting places ran out of ballots. The oversight continued into 2004.

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