Forget levers, vote with just a touch

By Hal Johnson
Herald Writer

Jack Gerbel, president of UniLect, recalled the reaction of a 96-year-old woman casting her vote by touch screen for the first time.

The diminutive lady appeared nervous when she walked into the voting booth and looked down at the screen with the offices and candidates on it, he said, adding, when she emerged, she summed it up in one word: Cool.

The head of the Dublin, Calif., maker of electronic voting systems on Friday demonstrated the system for about 30 local committee members and poll workers in the Mercer County courthouse. “Senior citizens love this,” Gerbel said. The digital images of the names of the candidates on an electronic screen are larger than the print on the mechanical machine ballot, he said.

Mercer County voters currently vote by pulling down levers on mechanical machines. Mercer County Registration and Election Department will place a referendum on the November ballot, asking voters if they would like to switch from the mechanical-lever voting booths to the touch-screen electronic voting, said James Bennington, department director. The county had intended to put it on the April 4 ballot, but decided it needed the time to display the touch-screen voting in malls and senior citizens centers, he said.

As a test, voters at selected polling places will be able to cast April 4 primary election votes in the electronic voting booths, he said.

“You can’t mess this up,” Gerbel told his Friday audience. A poll worker activates each electronic voting booth from a console.

If there is a power failure, the console has a battery backup, which is good for two to seven hours depending on the number of voting booths in the room, Gerbel said.

As he disconnected the console from the power outlet, however, he discovered the battery had not been charged.

The batteries should be continuously charged, he said. But if the worst happens, a car battery and jumper cables can be hooked up to the equipment, he said.

Because the electronic voting booths are smaller than the mechanical booths, two small polling places could be combined into one, Gerbel said.

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