Chuck Fadely

Election Day will premiere a different voting system in San Diego County – one that promises to make voting simple, secret and secure.

The system is known as the optical scan paper-ballot system. It is replacing the $31 million state-of-the-art, electronic touch-screen voting system that malfunctioned in the March primary.

During that election, the touch-screen’s card encoder failed in some cases. It came up to a wrong screen and caused a delay in opening some polls because poll workers were unsure of how to fix it.

“We will bring the touch screens back in 2006 once California’s secretary of state certifies them,” Sally McPherson, San Diego County Registrar of Voters, said. “Until then, we will be using the optical scan voting system.”

The paper ballot will be 18 inches long and printed front and back, with the candidates and measures on the ballot. The voter will fill in the ovals with black or blue ink and, once completed, will insert the ballot into a scanner.

“The scanner will read the ballot and will reject any that cannot be read properly,” McPherson said. “For example, if the voter uses an ‘X’ or a check mark instead of a completely filled-in oval, the scanner will reject the ballot, giving the voter an opportunity to fix the mistake.”

McPherson said there is also the possibility a voter will over-vote, meaning vote twice for one thing. In that case, the ballot will be rejected because it cannot determine voter intent. The voter will be able to receive a new ballot in that instance.

There are many advantages to the optical scan system.

“The scanners will tabulate votes all day long,” McPherson said. “So, on election night, instead of having to read 750,000 ballots, we will read one memory card from the scanner for each polling place.

“Of course, the paper ballots will always be there in case they were misread by the scanner.”

Another positive aspect is 30 percent of San Diegans vote by mail. They are accustomed to the optical-scan system because they used it in the March election.

However, this introduces a large drawback to the system. Because the voters who mail in ballots do not have the scanner to check it as poll voters do, there may be many errors that are not caught on time.

“We do have processes that are allowed by law that if we can determine voter intent we can correct the ballot so it will count,” McPherson said. “But otherwise, the people who vote by mail will have to be very diligent in making sure the ballot is filled in correctly.”

The optical-scan system is not as easy to use for those with disabilities as the touch screen system was. The touch-screen allowed voters who are visually impaired to attach an audio component to the keypad. The ballot was then read to the voter and the voter could use the keypad to make his or her choices. With the optical scan system, people with disabilities either have to bring a friend or ask a poll worker for assistance.

McPherson says both of these systems is much easier than the punch-card system used in San Diego for 25 years.

“This system had a 312-hole card and was basically a vote-by-numbers,” McPherson said.

Communication sophomore Sarah Sayles said she would vote regardless of the method.

“If it is accurate and if my vote is counted, that is what I am happy with,” Sayles said.

The optical-scan system is used in many other counties in California and around the nation. It has been used for many years and is not new technology.

McPherson also indicated the optical scan system would be easy for people of all ages. Older generations should not have any problems understanding the ballots.

“People thought that the older citizens would have a problem understanding the touch screens, but they really didn’t,” McPherson said.

Not only have voting machines become easier to manage, but also registering to vote has become a widespread phenomenon, encouraging people of all ages to participate in the upcoming election. Television campaigns, such as MTV’s “Choose or Lose” and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ “Vote or Die,” are encouraging many young voters to be active in the political process.

In fact, according to The Columbia Daily Tribune, an MTV poll conducted in August showed 62 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds indicated they would definitely vote this November, up from 41 percent in 2000 and from the previous high of 57 percent in 1992.

In an interview with Combs for the MTV campaign, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said young people could make a difference.

“When you give away your vote, you are giving away a little bit of power that you have to influence the things around you,” Obama said. “You register, you vote and it takes 15 minutes.

“And if you can’t spend 15 minutes on deciding what your community is going to look like and what your country is going to look like, then you don’t have any cause to complain.”