If the usual election controversies weren’t enough, this year some voters have had to contend with disputes over the very machines they will vote on.

The touchscreen machines that were supposed to prevent problems like those that took place in Florida in 2000 ran into issues of their own during the March primaries. In San Diego and Orange counties where they were used, some people couldn’t vote and other votes were not counted.

In response to this and mounting concerns about the lack of a paper record of votes, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley banned the use of all electronic voting machines in the state until the questions were resolved.

Fifteen counties were planning to use them in the November election, including Los Angeles County, which has been using touchscreens for early voting for three years.

Officials in those counties were forced to scramble to find other voting machines.

Eventually, election officials in Los Angeles and 10 other counties agreed to certain security measures, including giving voters the option of voting on paper or optical scan ballots. Shelley recertified their electronic machines by late August.

But four other counties that used a system specifically targeted by Shelley, the Diebold TSx, are still banned from using it.

All four counties – Kern, San Diego, San Joaquin and Solano – have switched to optical scan machines, where voters fill in bubbles (like on standardized tests) that are read by a computer. Los Angeles County will use optical scanning machines for all of its polling places on Election Day.

With this year’s voting machine issues finally sorted out, attention is now focused on the 2006 elections. That’s when a federal deadline kicks in requiring all counties to use electronic voting machines. There is mounting pressure on

Congress to require electronic voting machines to issue paper readouts of each person’s vote. Few machines now have the capability.

– Howard Fine