Touch-screen voting setups on horizon

Coming to a polling place near you: a touch-screen voting machine. As of Jan. 1, 2006, the direct recording electronic voting systems, known as DREs, will be required across the country under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The machines make it easier for people who have difficulty using their arms or hands to register choices, even offering the option of using a mouth wand or similar device to enter a vote.

Though some states are choosing to replace all machines with DREs, that's not the case in Massachusetts, where each community controls its own voting operation, according to Town Clerk Patrick Ward. In Brookline, plans call for only one such machine per precinct, which will satisfy federal requirements, he said.

Although Ward is enthusiastic about the machines offering hearing-impaired and mobility-impaired individuals the opportunity to vote with greater ease, he is skeptical of the total reliance on an electronic record. ''Major election officials across the United States are concerned that there is no paper trail," said Ward.

Brookline did away with lever-operated voting machines after they were banned by the state two years ago, switching to the current optically scanned system, which has served Brookline well, Ward said. In that system, voters fill in an oval or rectangle next to each ballot choice. The DRE machines will cost between $5,000 and $6,000 each, which will add up to at least $80,000 for the town to place one machine in each of the 16 polling stations, he said.

Ward cautions that since DREs are new, there is concern about unforeseen problems popping up during election season. ''They're electronic. Do you know what that means?" he said, pointing out maintenance and repairs as other costs.

Massachusetts has not yet certified any DRE manufacturers as eligible to supply the new machines for use within the state, which it must do before municipalities can purchase the equipment. Brian McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of State William Galvin, said Massachusetts has been approached by only two manufacturers looking for certification. Because individual manufacturers will have to approach each of 351 municipalities to sell their products instead of marketing to entire counties or states, as is the case in other parts of the country, McNiff said Massachusetts is a less appealing place for DRE sales teams to approach.

Stephen Bressler, Brookline's coordinator for the Americans with Disabilities Act, says he hasn't heard any complaints about accessibility to the town's voting. He said adjustments were made at the beginning of the year to polling entrances to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. Ward says some people with disabilities either vote at the polls with assistance or vote absentee with assistance.

Still, that's not enough. ''It's that a certain level of privacy and independence should be afforded to everyone," says McNiff.

Despite the costs associated with the upcoming changes, Ward agrees. ''I just know it's the right thing to do. What price liberty?"