Electronic voting machines is the right way to go

Tribune Opinion
March 26, 2008

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Over the past couple months, there has been a lot of debate about paper ballots vs. computer ballots. Which one is more convenient? Which one is cheaper?

Which one is more accurate?

Which one can I trust?

Finally, though, the fuss over whether voters should cast their picks on paper or on a computer is over and we can let our election officials get back to work.

Last week, state lawmakers killed a proposal that would have forced counties to switch to paper ballots in August's primary and November's general election. The proposal, which was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon and backed by Gov. Bill Ritter, came on the heels of Secretary of State Mike Coffman's December decertification of many of the computer voting systems used in Colorado. It's important to note, however, that the system Weld County uses was not decertified and the secretary of state has since recertified the systems that were in question.

If the bill had become law, the lines at the polls would have been longer, the results would have been later and the costs would have been higher. And while some people don't mind waiting in line to vote or waiting extra time to get results, the inconvenience might have been enough to deter people from voting in the first place.

As many of the county clerks throughout the state have said, the paper ballot system would have been a step backward. We'll say it, too. It's 2008 -- it's time for people to get over their fears of basic technology.

We have confidence in Weld's computer voting system. It's efficient, convenient, and with a paper printout that shows each voter what votes are being cast, it's also trustworthy.

Weld has 364 certified touch-screen voting systems that officials purchased in 2006 for nearly $1.3 million. The county received a federal grant of nearly $670,000 to help buy the machines. The machines, which were manufactured by Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold), were chosen with the help of the Democratic and Republican chairpersons of the Weld political parties.

Weld County Clerk and Recorder Steve Moreno has backed the county's systems throughout the debate. And with a high turnout likely in November -- a competitive presidential campaign, an open U.S. Senate seat and several U.S. House races are on the ballot -- the system is sure to be tested.

"I have all the confidence in the world in these machines," Moreno said in December.

And so do we.