Get crackin’, update voting

Ohio’s machines predate iPhone

Replacing Ohio’s aging voting machines will be a costly and controversial process, pressing the need for the governor and legislature to carve out funding in the state’s upcoming capital budget to help counties afford secure and efficient voting equipment before the highly scrutinized 2020 presidential election.

The cost of replacing a fleet of aging voting machines is daunting even for a larger county, such as Franklin; it expects replacement costs as high as $30 million. But Ohio’s smaller, poorer counties are sorely challenged to make these purchases. Voting in Scioto County and Delaware County should be of equal ease and security for any Ohioan.

Most of Ohio’s voting equipment was purchased in 2005 and 2006, largely with $115 million in onetime Help America Vote Act dollars. This time around, the federal government isn’t expected to pay. And the state’s voting machines are breaking down and it’s getting harder to maintain and support them, as parts become scarce.

Ohio’s chief elections officer, Secretary of State Jon Husted, earlier this month urged Gov. John Kasich and the General Assembly to include $118 million for new voting equipment in the capital budget.

“It’s time to make updating our voting equipment a priority,” Husted said. “… The last time Ohio replaced its voting machines, the iPhone hadn’t been released, people still rented movies from Blockbuster, and social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat didn’t exist.”

We also weren’t worried about Russians hacking our elections.

Money needs to be supplied quickly, because it will take time for counties to shop for equipment, gain consensus about using paper ballots or electronic machines, and place orders.

Ideally, counties should roll out the new equipment in 2019 — to test them and provide experience before the 2020 presidential election, when the eyes of the nation likely will again be on the integrity of Ohio’s election.

Here’s a strange twist: After moving to nifty high-tech voting machines the last time around, some counties are considering returning to paper ballots. They’re safe from cyberattacks, can easily be verified in a recount, and new optical scanners are cheaper and faster. Plus technology is rapidly changing: Why invest in expensive electronic machines that might be quickly outdated?

Ohio’s political leaders need to get cracking on funding new voting equipment. Democracy depends upon it.

A single voter held Virginia’s future

Think one vote doesn’t count? Here’s more proof voters need to head to the polls on Election Day: In Virginia, the state elections board was scheduled to meet this morning to draw lots — likely by putting the names on paper slips in a bowl — to break a tie for a Virginia House of Delegates seat after the Republican incumbent and Democrat challenger tied at 11,608 votes. The outcome could shift political power in state government; Republicans currently hold onto power by one seat, 51-39.

This mirrored the situation in Franklin County, where 3 out of 4 voters sat out the Nov. 7 election and three recounts followed in races as close as a single vote.

So next time, vote as if the future depends on it. Because really, it does.