County Budget Includes New Voting System Auditor Would Get Funds To Replace Punch-Card Ballots

Spokane County commissioners are set to adopt a $348 million budget for 2001, including $350,000 so the county auditor can begin the process of replacing the punch-card balloting system now used in local elections.

Commissioners held a public hearing on the budget Monday that was attended almost exclusively by county department heads and the media.

Testimony was limited to an overview of the 2001 spending plan by county Budget Administrator Marshall Farnell, and County Auditor Vicky Dalton’s plea for money to replace the punch-card system.

Farnell told commissioners that the budget will not require an increase in the property tax rate, despite the addition of more than 38 positions to the county payroll.

Twenty of the new jobs are in the Sheriff’s Office, with most of those being funded by grants or expected to pay for themselves by writing traffic tickets.

“We balanced our budgets with existing revenues,” Farnell said.

The county’s budget was about $319 million in 2000.

The 2001 plan includes $1.5 million for a combined law enforcement communications center, $1.1 million for parks projects and more than $400,000 for economic development programs, Farnell said.

The proposed budget also includes a $10 million emergency reserve fund.

Commissioners are expected to formally adopt the 2001 budget at 11 a.m. Thursday at their offices in the County Courthouse, 1116 W. Broadway.

On Monday, Dalton lobbied hard for the inclusion of the $350,000 for a new balloting system. The money will pay for a new voter registration program, a new ballot layout system and a new optical-scan ballot tabulation machine, she said.

Under the new system, voters will color in their choices on a sheet of paper instead of punching holes in their ballots, as they do now.

Ultimately, Dalton hopes to have tabulation machines at each precinct that will allow elections workers to tally results without transporting the ballots downtown.

The new equipment is desperately needed to maintain the integrity of local elections, Dalton said. Punch-card technology is antiquated and prone to fraud and sloppy tabulation, she said, pointing to the presidential election problems in Florida.

In addition, Dalton suspects someone tampered with nearly 5,000 local ballots during the November 1999 election on Initiative 695.

“We want off punch cards,” she said. “Long before Florida ever came along, we wanted off punch cards. What we’re on now is ancient technology.”

The $350,000 will allow Dalton to begin changing the system. The entire changeover, which Dalton hopes to implement over the next few years, will cost more than $1 million.