The Nov. 2 elections in the City of Charlottesville will be the sixth election to feature computerized eSlate voting systems, which were originally purchased by the city in order to accommodate handicapped voters.
The eSlate takes the place of traditional lever or punch-card machines by providing a large electronic screen that can be manipulated with a wheel at the base of the machine.
By turning the system's selection wheel, the voter then highlights election choices and presses a button to vote. A summary screen appears at the end of the process, allowing the voter to make any changes before they hit a large red button to finalize their choices.
Charlottesville General Registrar Sheri L. Iachetta said the system has worked flawlessly thus far.
"We haven't had any problems in the past, and we have spare machines in case there is a problem," Iachetta said. "We are very confident in our machines since they have run well in the past five elections."
Iachetta also praised the new machines for their efficient processing of election data.
"The eSlates are much quicker and much more efficient, and they make the data a lot easier to process," she said.
Charlottesville originally purchased the machines to accommodate the city's handicapped voters. The eSlate even features a straw in which a voter can blow or suck in order to manipulate the machine.
The Federal government recently passed the Help America Vote Act which will require the entire country to switch to electronic voting by Jan. 1, 2006.
Albermarle County does not have a voting system as advanced as the eSlate. Their system was last updated nine years ago.
The new system is essentially a first-generation electronic system that operates with a sensory touch mechanism, according to Albermarle County General Registrar Jackie Harris.
"The most common problem with our system would be that some voters would touch the cast vote button prior to finishing," she said. "We now have instructions both in the booth and on cards outside the booth and have managed to cut down on this problem in recent years."
Matt Smyth, interim communications director for the Center for Politics, said the new electronic systems are not much better or worse than the old systems.
"Most of the problems we will see this year are problems we have seen before," he said.
Smyth also said machine sabotage is unlikely because humans are ultimately in control of the process.
Charlottesville will be holding a machine certification process this Friday in the registrar's office to ensure that the machines are ready for next week's election.
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