Sparse counties stand behind low-tech polls

BOISE – Never mind all that high-tech stuff about electronic touch-screen voting. Here in Idaho, 16 of our 44 counties still use paper ballots, where you mark an X in the box with a pencil – and they’re perfectly happy with that system, thank you.

They’re mostly the less-populated counties, and in North Idaho, they include Boundary and Benewah counties. Idaho County in the Grangeville area also uses paper ballots.

Kay Sather, Benewah County clerk, said, “I’ve never had anyone say they aren’t happy with them.”

Voters in Benewah County find a pencil, equipped with an eraser, in their voting booths. If they mess up their ballot beyond the eraser’s repair, “They just go back, ask for a new one, and the whole set of ballots is voided,” Sather said.

After voters mark their ballots, they fold them so a county stamp is visible on the outside, and hand them to the poll worker, who puts them in the “voted” box. That’s a gray metal box about 2 feet high, with a slot in the top. It’s locked with a padlock and not opened until it’s time to count the ballots.

Sather said the last time Benewah County had a recount, it was just for two precincts that fell into a legislative district where there was a close vote and incumbent Rep. Gino White lost.

When the paper ballots were re-examined, “There was no question, the people’s intent of their vote,” Sather said. “I was just so proud of my people, because everything was so perfect.”

The paper-ballot system also is inexpensive, which works for small counties like Benewah. “So far, we just can’t think of anything but paper,” Sather said. “But I know in the large states and the large counties, you’d have to have a zillion people counting, where would you put them? For us, it’s just perfect.”

Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said about 9 percent of Idaho’s votes are cast on paper ballots. They work well, he said, though human error can come into play.

It’s a popular system that’s free of technical glitches, Sather said, adding, “If there’s anyone in Benewah County that wants something more technical, I don’t know about it, I haven’t heard about it.”

No chad left behind

Then there are the 14 Idaho counties that still use punch-card ballots, just like those involved in the infamous “hanging chads” controversy in Florida four years ago. They include Ada County, the state’s most populated, along with North Idaho’s Shoshone and Latah counties, north-central Idaho’s Clearwater and Nez Perce counties and ritzy Blaine County of Sun Valley fame.

But all Idahoans have to do to avoid “hanging chads” – bits of punched-off ballot that don’t completely detach and could interfere with the counting of the vote – is follow the instructions.

Official instructions, posted on the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office Web site in its 2004 Voters Guide ( www.idsos.state.id.us/elect/eleindex.htm), show exactly how to vote on each type of ballot used in Idaho. Click on a punch-card county, and you’ll see step-by-step, illustrated instructions on how to insert the ballot into the holder, punch the ballot to vote, and record a write-in vote. Here’s the final step:

“After voting, withdraw the ballot card. Inspect it to be sure all holes are cleanly and completely punched out. Remove any loose chads as illustrated.”

The drawing shows a hand picking off a little hanging bit from the back of the ballot. That’s all it takes. “Our ballots are clean. The people know what to do with ‘em,” Ysursa said. “People, I think, are more cognizant than ever about pulling out their card and looking at it.”

Candidate forums

On Monday, Bonner County Democrats are planning a discussion party with Democratic candidates and the community from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Sandpoint Community Hall, on 1st Street across from the courthouse. Sponsors are Bonner County Democratic Central Committee, Vote Hope 2004 and Veterans for Kerry. For more information, call (208) 264-0311 or go to www.BonnerDemocrats.org.

On Wednesday, Republican students at North Idaho College are hosting a candidates forum featuring legislative candidates from Districts 4 and 5 at 7 p.m. in the Lake Coeur d’Alene Room of the NIC Student Union Building.

The Idaho Debates, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Idaho and the Idaho Press Club, will feature 1st District GOP Rep. Butch Otter debating Democratic challenger Naomi Preston on Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. The debate will be broadcast on Idaho Public Television and live online at www.idahoptv.org.