News

Diebold touts success of touchscreen voting in Ohio

May 13, 2003

NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- Diebold Inc. announced that voters in Lorain County, Ohio, successfully used Diebold Election Systems' AccuVote-TS touchscreen voting systems to cast ballots in primary races for mayor, council seats and two ballot issues.

Lorain County election officials evaluated the election software and hardware in their search for a solution to replace the county's current punch card system with technology that meets the requirements of the new Help America Vote Act. See related story, "Diebold declares Georgia touchscreen election a success."

More than 99 percent of voters polled said they found the system to be concise, fast and easy to operate, according to a news release. Voters noted in particular the ballot summary page, where they could easily review all of their selections and change a selection before their ballot was cast. This was the first time Lorain County voters used electronic voting stations.

The accumulation of election results from the touchscreen voting stations, as well as the generation of election reports -- which included absentee ballot results -- took less than seven minutes to complete and clearly displayed a detailed outcome of each race. Race results also were created for separate precincts.

"All precincts opened on schedule, and poll workers found Diebold's pre- election training simple and easy to comprehend," said Mark Radke, director of Diebold Election Systems.

The AccuVote-TS system touchscreen voter interface provides a review screen that allows voters to amend and verify all selections prior to casting their ballot. Once a ballot is cast, the data is immediately encrypted and redundantly stored within the voting system, providing increased security. The system eliminates over-voting, as it does not permit voting for more than the designated number of selections within a particular race.

Each Diebold touchscreen voting station offers a ballot-magnification feature which enlarges the ballot font size for voters with limited vision. Every system is also equipped with a voice-guidance capability that verbally recites the entire ballot to blind or visually impaired voters via headphones and a standard telephone-style keypad that allows them to navigate through the ballot.

The Diebold system used in Lorain County, located just west of Cleveland, has been deployed in many Ohio elections. It was used in more than 5,100 precincts across the country during the November 2002 gubernatorial election, when more than 33,000 Diebold touchscreen voting systems captured ballots from millions of voters.