April 17, 2003

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Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land today hosted a Voting Technology Fair at the Lansing Center in downtown Lansing to provide the public with an opportunity to evaluate the latest in voting equipment technology.

"The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) will make federal funding available to upgrade our election systems to conform with the new federal standards," Secretary Land said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to significantly improve elections in Michigan.

"Michigan faces some unique challenges in complying with the federal mandates because we have more than 5,000 precincts and use a number of different voting systems. The technology fair allows us to evaluate the equipment that is currently available to see if it will serve the diverse needs of the state."

Secretary Land explained that HAVA's election reforms require all states to employ a voting system that:

• Permits voters who are disabled, including the blind and visually impaired, to cast a secret ballot independently, without assistance from another person. Every polling place must have voting equipment available to accomplish this.
• Allows voters to verify and change their ballot before it is cast.
• Notifies the voter if the voter has selected more than one candidate for a single office on the ballot and provides the voter the opportunity to correct the ballot before it is cast.

In order to qualify for the federal funds available to states, Michigan must file a state plan. An advisory committee, representing all those who have an interest in the state's election process, was appointed to assist with the development of the state plan. In addition to meeting with vendors at the Voting Technology Fair to gather information, the advisory committee has also scheduled a series of public hearings in downtown Lansing to obtain public comment.

Secretary Land added that the new federal law will compel election officials to address the technology gap among various voting systems, an issue particularly relevant in Michigan because the state has a highly decentralized system of election administration. Among Michigan's 5,305 precincts, lever style voting machines are used in 445 precincts and paper ballots are used in 98 precincts. "Central count" punch card systems are used in 866 precincts, while punch card systems using precinct-based tabulation are used in 320 precincts. Optical scan voting equipment is used in 3,476 precincts and a direct electronic recording (DRE) voting system, in which "ballots" are cast and tabulated on a computer, is used in 100 precincts. As a result of this mix of voting systems, there are significant disparities in the measures precincts can take to protect voters from spoiling their ballots so that their votes won't count.

"As the state's chief election official, my goal is to ensure fair and equitable elections in Michigan," said Secretary Land. "As we continue the discussion about election reform, it will be extremely important to get feedback from everyone who has a stake in our elections process."

President Bush signed HAVA into law Oct. 29, 2002. The federal legislation provides a total of $3.9 billion in possible federal funding for all states. To date, Congress has appropriated $1.5 billion in funding. Michigan hopes to receive between $40 million and $50 million in grant funds under the new federal law.

HAVA LINKS

Information regarding the Help America Vote Act can be accessed through the Web sites maintained by the Michigan Department of State's Bureau of Elections www.michigan.gov/hava and the Federal Election Commission www.fec.gov/hava/hava.htm