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By Stephen Majors
Associated Press writer
POSTED: 09:14 p.m. EDT, Jul 09, 2008
COLUMBUS: Ohio's elections chief is reconsidering a plan to prohibit poll workers from taking voting machines home for safekeeping in the days before the November presidential election.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced plans in February to scrap the practice known as ''sleepovers'' because of security concerns but is now facing opposition from county elections officials who say the custom makes it easier to transport machines to polling sites.
''She has listened to the concerns of election officials and ultimately wants to do what is best for their process but also make sure that all safety precautions are considered,'' Brunner spokesman Patrick Gallaway said today.
Brunner has frequently referred to a Licking County poll worker who took a machine home for safekeeping and improperly voted on it at home fearing there wouldn't be enough time on Election Day.
In defense of the practice, election officials say safeguards prevent such a machine from being used at the polls because it would not have the required vote tally of ''zero'' before voting began.
Sleepovers are prevalent in Ohio counties that use touch-screen voting machines and are sometimes used in counties with machines that scan paper ballots. The practice enables poll workers to pick up voting machines and other equipment such as memory cards in the days before the election, keep them at home and then take them to polling locations before Election Day.
Without sleepovers, county boards would likely have to hire a company to pick up machines and drop them off at different locations, said Keith Cunningham, director of the Allen County Board of Elections and past president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. That would cost several thousand dollars, and some counties can't afford it.
Other problems include having to test the machines as much as a week earlier so the movers could transport them in time for the election, Cunningham said.
Officials said a transition from sleepovers isn't impossible, but would be difficult and risky only a few months before the election.
''The concept is one that is crucial to the success of elections in Ohio,'' Ashland County Board of Elections Director Shannon Leininger wrote in a May 8 e-mail to Brunner. ''It would be logistically impossible for the counties having large numbers of machines to deliver, set up and test all their machines on election morning.''
Brunner responded and invited local officials to suggest potential alternatives to banning sleepovers. A decision will be made in the next few weeks, Gallaway said.
Logistically, it would be impossible to have machines delivered the day of the election, so another option would be to lock them at the polling place for a few days, Cunningham said.
''You got two choices — you're either going to have a machine unattended at a polling location for a few days or you are going to have a machine in the hands of a poll worker,'' Cunningham said. ''Pick your poison.''
Election officials said all parts of running an election have inherent security risks that can't be altogether eliminated. Poll workers have to be trusted, said Jeff Wilkinson, deputy director of the Richland County Board of Elections.
''No matter which way you do it, you're going to have some potential risks,'' he said. ''People need to get off the bandwagon that everyone is crooks and they are going to try to swing the election.''
The debate over the sleepover policy is the second time Brunner and local officials have disagreed on a security-related matter. Brunner wanted to scrap the state's touch-screen voting machines after a study she commissioned found they were vulnerable to tampering.
But election officials resisted such a large-scale change before this November's election, and lawmakers declined to provide the funding the change would have required.
COLUMBUS: Ohio's elections chief is reconsidering a plan to prohibit poll workers from taking voting machines home for safekeeping in the days before the November presidential election.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced plans in February to scrap the practice known as ''sleepovers'' because of security concerns but is now facing opposition from county elections officials who say the custom makes it easier to transport machines to polling sites.
''She has listened to the concerns of election officials and ultimately wants to do what is best for their process but also make sure that all safety precautions are considered,'' Brunner spokesman Patrick Gallaway said today.
Brunner has frequently referred to a Licking County poll worker who took a machine home for safekeeping and improperly voted on it at home fearing there wouldn't be enough time on Election Day.
In defense of the practice, election officials say safeguards prevent such a machine from being used at the polls because it would not have the required vote tally of ''zero'' before voting began.
Sleepovers are prevalent in Ohio counties that use touch-screen voting machines and are sometimes used in counties with machines that scan paper ballots. The practice enables poll workers to pick up voting machines and other equipment such as memory cards in the days before the election, keep them at home and then take them to polling locations before Election Day.
Without sleepovers, county boards would likely have to hire a company to pick up machines and drop them off at different locations, said Keith Cunningham, director of the Allen County Board of Elections and past president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. That would cost several thousand dollars, and some counties can't afford it.
Other problems include having to test the machines as much as a week earlier so the movers could transport them in time for the election, Cunningham said.
Officials said a transition from sleepovers isn't impossible, but would be difficult and risky only a few months before the election.
''The concept is one that is crucial to the success of elections in Ohio,'' Ashland County Board of Elections Director Shannon Leininger wrote in a May 8 e-mail to Brunner. ''It would be logistically impossible for the counties having large numbers of machines to deliver, set up and test all their machines on election morning.''
Brunner responded and invited local officials to suggest potential alternatives to banning sleepovers. A decision will be made in the next few weeks, Gallaway said.
Logistically, it would be impossible to have machines delivered the day of the election, so another option would be to lock them at the polling place for a few days, Cunningham said.
''You got two choices — you're either going to have a machine unattended at a polling location for a few days or you are going to have a machine in the hands of a poll worker,'' Cunningham said. ''Pick your poison.''
Election officials said all parts of running an election have inherent security risks that can't be altogether eliminated. Poll workers have to be trusted, said Jeff Wilkinson, deputy director of the Richland County Board of Elections.
''No matter which way you do it, you're going to have some potential risks,'' he said. ''People need to get off the bandwagon that everyone is crooks and they are going to try to swing the election.''
The debate over the sleepover policy is the second time Brunner and local officials have disagreed on a security-related matter. Brunner wanted to scrap the state's touch-screen voting machines after a study she commissioned found they were vulnerable to tampering.
But election officials resisted such a large-scale change before this November's election, and lawmakers declined to provide the funding the change would have required.
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