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There are no upcoming events currently scheduled.| New Opportunities for 2006: Voting Machines, Early Voting, & One-Stop Voter Education |
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| Written by Jessica Connors | |
| Thursday, 08 June 2006 | |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW TOUCH –SCREEN VOTING MACHINES, EARLY VOTING PROGRAM & ONE-STOP-SHOPPING IN VOTER EDUCATION MAKE FOR UNPRECEDENTED CONVENIENCE IN DOING CIVIC DUTY Local nonpartisan group urges Ut. County residents to take advantage, become informed Orem, UT – June 6, 2006 – In order to comply with a federal mandate invoked by the Help America Vote Act (or HAVA, legislation resulting from the controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential race between George W. Bush & Al Gore), the Utah County Elections Office is preparing to launch the use of new touch-screen voting machines for the upcoming Primary Elections on June 27th. Called DRE’s (for Direct Recording Equipment), these new machines offer several advantages to benefit voters and the community. According to Sandy Hoffmann, Utah County Elections Coordinator who manages the Utah County Elections Office, “We now have the capability to allow a person who is visually or hearing impaired to vote independently and privately, something never before possible through the previous system.” In addition, accuracy in vote-tallying can be greatly enhanced. “With these machines, it is impossible to overvote,” says Hoffmann. She points out too that the overall tally is recorded in 3 separate locations, eliminating “any single point of failure.” An individual voter’s choices are stored: first, in the memory card which is inserted in the main body of machine the morning of the election; secondly, in a flash-card style chip in the tablet, or touch screen itself (which has an additional battery-power source in case of power failure); and thirdly,on the paper trail, a print-out scroll recording all the choices made by the voter during the voter process. This hard-copy document will be viewable to the voter through a secured plexiglas screen until the voter hits the “cast vote” selection, at which point the scroll rolls into a sealed canister which will remain unopened for at least 22 months in the county archives – unless, of course, election results are legitimately contested.Perhaps the greatest benefit resulting from the implementation of the new machines is the option to sponsor an “Early Voting Program” in Utah County. This year marks the first such occasion. Hoffmann explains, “In 2006, registered voters may vote during the course of 10 days instead of only one,” she continues, “Due to logistics, we could not have offered this opportunity without the new machines.” Local community organizer Jessica Connors, of the nonpartisan voter-education group, Citizens’ Resource, hopes that these expanded opportunities will result in greater participation at the polls, something which is generally low during summer Primaries. “I’m grateful that the voting public will have more options to fulfill their civic duty. My theory is that part of our generally low voter turnout is – ironically -- due to the fact that members of our population are involved in so many other good works. People are focusing on raising good, strong families, performing service in church and community -- there’s not a lot of time leftover and details can get missed in that hectic pace of life. Perhaps nine extra business days will eliminate that polling-day time crunch.” Along with all the other prospects for “improving the voting experience” that are available this election year, Citizens’ Resource is offering one more, “our events bring the one-stop-shopping concept to voter-education,” says Connors, “On June 10th we’ll bring candidates & information for every item on the ballot together. The general public is encouraged to come meet the candidates personally, hear them debate the issues with their opponents, and come away reasonably informed in a single afternoon.” The Primary Candidate Expo, is being co-sponsored by Utah Valley State College and will be held Saturday, June 10th from 12:30 PM-5 PM in the UVSC Student Center Grand Ballroom (800 West, University Pkwy in Orem). Beginning at 1:00 PM, the main forum of this event will feature the only debate open to the general public between incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon of the US Congressional 3rd District & his challenger multi-industry businessman John Jacob of Eagle Mountain. CNN is intending to record this debate to appear on national television. Additional details and events schedule may be found by visiting www.citizensreource.org. ### SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: Additional explanation on voting machines from Hoffmann -- although DRE’s will not allow over-voting, they do permit under-voting. That is to say, each voter can elect to not vote on certain items and to vote on others. It gives the voter the choice to vote on specifics only and still have his or her vote counted. Quotes from Sandy Hoffmann taken from a telephone interview with CR Director Jessica Connors on Fri, 2 June 2006 at 9:30 AM. Press release proofread (for accuracy) & approved by Hoffmann, via email, Mon, 5 June 2006 at 5:19 PM. |
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