 "Photo: Debbie Eynon Finley, Daily Texan Staff")
Voter interest this primary season hit an all-time high, causing many to project a record-breaking voter turnout on the fast approaching Election Day.
Election administrators on the federal, state and local levels are preparing for all possible issues.
“We cannot have less than a 1,000 people decide on the presidency again,” said Ray Martinez, UT adjunct professor of public affairs. “Ever since 2000, issues pertaining on the efficiency of voting procedures and accurately noting the citizen’s vote have been one of the biggest concerns.”
The LBJ School Center for Politics and Governance hosted a panel discussion on the integrity of the voting system Monday at the AT&T Conference Center. The panel, which consisted of seven electoral experts at all levels, debated the consistency and efficiency of current and altered voting processes.
“Anything that impedes the voters at the polls can start as an inconvenience for 10 people, grow to a problem for a 100 and become a crisis for 1,000,” said Doug Chapin, director of electionline.org. “In an election environment, especially as big as this year, all the technology has to work properly.”
In response to the 2000 election, the Help America Vote Act was implemented on the federal level requiring every county to have at least one technological machine available for voters with disabilities, said Ann McGeehan, director of elections division of the secretary of state’s office.
“The Help America Vote Act gave the [U.S.] Election Assistance Commission ability to test and certify new voting programs,” said Rosemary Rodriguez, chair of the commission.
“We stress the human element and not to blaming the voters or officials but to address the systems that need to be set up properly before they are in the field.”
McGeehan said it is up to each state and county which voting system is used — optical scans, electronic-based voting, paper-based voting or a combination of these methods. She said 220 out of 254 counties in Texas use optical scan voting, which includes the use of Scantron ballots.
“All election voting machines all around us are insecure,” Chapin said. “In a way, security is far more compromised than in the past. The machines are vulnerable to viral attacks.
Failure of one could cause the whole system to collapse. Paper-based election fraud is more difficult but [recording the votes requires] a sacrifice of time.”
Sentiment from the panel on the level of importance of accurately functioning equipment for voting and tallying methods was agreed upon.
“We don’t trust; we test,” said Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir. “We do more testing than counties you hear of realistically. We do many risk assessments to find solutions before the big day.”
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