Changes in voting

Elections using punch-card ballots have been conducted successfully in Cape Girardeau County for many decades. But the contested presidential election of 2000 led to passage of the Help America Vote Act, which requires states using punch-card or lever voting machines to replace them by 2006.

Following County Clerk Rodney Miller's recommendation, the Cape Girardeau County Commission has decided not to wait for 2006. It will seek bids for voting machines that scan ballots optically.

A manufacturer of optical-scan equipment provided machines that were tested in Cape Girardeau's recent fire sales-tax election. They worked well.

The new voting technology isn't foolproof. In an election in California's Napa County last March, optical scan equipment failed to record more than 6,000 votes on absentee ballots. The problem resulted in a recount.

Whether the optical-scan machines will be used in Cape Girardeau County in the November election has not been decided.

Each machine costs about $4,500. The federal government, which has mandated the switch, will reimburse the county $3,198 per precinct. The total cost to the county will be from $80,000 to $120,000.