Grayson suggesting ballot scanners as anti-fraud measure

CALHOUN -- Secretary of State Trey Grayson is crisscrossing the state making pitches to county clerks to consider buying electronic ballot scanners as an added protection against vote fraud.

The scanners, which cost as much as $4,500 each, would allow voters to fill out paper ballots that are then read electronically to speed up the tabulation process. The paper ballots are kept, providing a record that reduces the chance someone could manipulate computerized results.

This comes amid growing concerns that hackers could tamper with results by exploiting weaknesses in the current electronic voting system's security. Researchers at the University of California discovered such holes in the system last month.

And yesterday, Attorney General Greg Stumbo dispatched a letter to Grayson's office asking for a review of the state's electronic voting systems to determine whether vulnerabilities make them "defective or unacceptable."

Grayson responded that no voting system is beyond being compromised, such as in the case of poll workers who are corrupt. And he called Stumbo's assertions that Kentucky's machines might be unreliable "misleading and irresponsible."

"The State Board of Elections and election administrators across Kentucky have been working for years to ensure the voters have confidence in our system," he said. "We will not let you undermine these efforts."

Scanners, Grayson said Monday in Calhoun, would help ease voters' worries about electronic voting booths, in which people cast their ballots on a computer screen.

"A lot of voters have been saying, 'Does my vote really count?'" he said.

Grayson already has visited more than a dozen counties recently to tell county clerks about $15 million in federal money left over from the 2002 Help America Vote Act.

The roughly $4,100 per precinct could cover most of the cost of a scanner.

But county governments would have to foot the extra $300 to $500 per machine, and that could be costly for larger counties that have dozens of precincts.

Jefferson County has been using optical scanners to count paper ballots for years. Three other counties -- Boyle, Graves and Warren -- tried digital scanner technology during the May primary election, and the reactions were generally positive, Grayson said.

"The worst we heard was indifference," Grayson told McLean County officials during a presentation in Calhoun on Monday.
McLean County Clerk Linda Ray Johnson said the county uses such a scanner in the clerk's office for voters who walk in during the 12 days before the election to cast absentee ballots.

"There's so much interest in the paper ballots," she said.
McLean County Judge-Executive Larry Whitaker, who won re-election last year by 43 votes, said such a system is worth the investment if it ensures accuracy.

"Anything to relieve stress and do it quickly, I'm for," he said.
It's optional for counties to purchase such scanners. Congress has been looking at mandating that polling places offer some form of paper ballots.