Forget the hanging chads, ballots go digital

June Casagrande

Visitors to City Hall on Tuesday were the first people in town to try

out the new electronic voting machines that will be the county’s

official balloting method beginning in the March primary election.

“It seems simple enough, not at all confusing or difficult,” said

Lance Cpl. Paul Robbins Jr., one of the people who tried out the

machines.

Newport Beach is one of nine election sites selected by the Orange

County Registrar of Voters as test location for the new eSlate voting

machines.

Brett Rowley, spokesman for the registrar, said that the mock

election was set up as a dry run for poll workers to assure that

everything goes smoothly in March -- especially things like setting

up and breaking down the voting stations and tabulating the votes. At

the same time, the dry run provided a unique opportunity for City

Hall visitors to try out the technology they will use to cast

official ballots in March and thereafter.

“Anything that smacks of computers for non-computer people could

be a little intimidating,” said Laura Dietz, a Republican activist

and former City Council candidate. “To me the beauty of this is the

ability to check how you voted before you cast your final ballot.”

Voters used the new eSlate machines to make their picks in several

hypothetical races for candidates such as Shirley MacLaine and Jack

Benny and also for two fictional ballot initiatives.

The machines look like an electronic clipboard with a screen

similar to a computer screen. Each machine has a dial that allows

voters to navigate between races and a button that actually casts the

ballots.

Those who didn’t get a chance to test drive the new machines on

Tuesday might not have missed the boat entirely. City Clerk Lavonne

Harkless said that the city is working with county election officials

to arrange to have one of the machines placed in the city clerk’s

office prior to the March election.

Members of the public can also get a lesson in using the machines

at the registrar’s Web site, https://www.oc.ca.gov/election.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].