[Vision2020] Voting Equipment Test

[Barrett Schroeder]

Latah County Clerk Susan Petersen's office will be conducting
a required test of the vote counting machine on Friday, May 12,
2006 at 11:00 am.  Idaho Code allows candidates and political 
parties to observe the test, but Susan is happy to extend the same
invitation to anyone interested in seeing how the machine works.  
Just come by her office (Room 101 in the County Courthouse,
522 S. Adams in Moscow) slightly before 11:00 am.


Susan and the County's great IT people have also put together a
"Voting Instructions" slideshow, complete with photographs of the
actual voting equipment, so that voters can become familiar with
the process before they go to vote:

http://www.latah.id.us/Elections/instructions.htm


There is also a PDF file (70K) about the AutoMark machines that
will be available for voters who may need them due to a disability
or condition that might make using the other machines difficult:

http://www.sos.idaho.gov/ELECT/clerk/PRKit/3_Device_Graphic.pdf

These machines are funded by the Federal Help America Vote 
Act (HAVA).  There is more information about the machines on the 
manufacturer's web site:

http://www.vogueelection.com/products_automark.html

These machines will be available at the Primary Election on Tuesday,
May 23, 2006  (Be sure to vote!).   More local election information is 
available on Susan's Elections Page:

http://www.latah.id.us/Elections/


The AutoMark machines are very impressive.  At the demonstration 
I used the headphone and pushbuttons with the screen blacked out 
(a privacy feature). The machine was very easy to use this way, much 
better than telephone voice prompt systems, and a voter can go as fast 
or as slow as they want.  A voter who is blind can make a write-in vote 
without any assistance by scrolling through the letters of the alphabet.  
Of course, any voter can still ask for as much or as little assistance 
as they may need.

We hope that by removing barriers, we'll encourage more people to vote.  
A big part of this is getting the word out to people, and HAVA also pays 
for educational efforts like the large billboard on the Troy Highway.
We can all do our part by making sure that our friends and relatives know 
that it is easier than ever for *everybody* to vote.


Barrett