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A Look at Some of the Ways to Vote Tomorrow

Aired November 04, 2002 - 13:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, he joins us now. He's going to show us some of the ways to vote tomorrow. Not who to vote for, but how to vote. And this is a big issue for many people because the rules have changed and especially the technology.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly. Perhaps the most apparent evidence of the sort of turmoil with voting that happened two years ago. The evidence we're going to see now is all these high-tech voting machines that are being used around the country. And more and more counties are adopting this technology to use and to use for their voters.

So we're going to start with one over here, that's actually of interest to everybody in Georgia, because it's made by Diebold. It's the only machine that is streamlined for the entire state. Georgia is the first and only state to adopt a uniform touch-screen technology. The idea behind is, when you go into the polling booth, you would have a smart card, you would slide the smart card in. Diebold actually makes ATM machines. So they tried to model it after that in a sense. You put the card into the machine. It then loads the ballot into the machine itself. And then there is a touch screen that you would actually manipulate once it loads it in. There are some instructions here. You would type there and then make all of your different choices using the touch screen here. When you're done, you would then cast your ballot. And the card pops up. You give that back to the polling station worker.

SAVIDGE: What if you make a mistake?

SIEBERG: If you make a mistake, you can actually go back and change it before you cast the ballot. Just like you were on a paper ballot, you dropped it into a box, of course you can't go back and get it. In this case, as long as you haven't pushed the cast ballot button, you can go back and make any changes you want after that

SAVIDGE: OK. So this is the state of Georgia, but not necessarily everywhere.

SEIBERG: Right. It's all over the state of Georgia. Every precinct in Georgia will have that Diebold machine.

From there, we're going to go to another machine. This is from Hart InterCivic. And this is a little bit different because it actually doesn't have a touch screen device. What you've got here is a wheel that you actually turn to manipulate it. And instead of coming into the polling booth and having a card to access it, you actually get this four-digit code. Once you're given that code, you go into the polling booth and you finish typing it in using the wheel. Once you type that in, then, the ballot itself actually loads up. And you can see all the different choices that you would make. And then you would use the wheel to actually scroll through and make all your different choices, like so. A little bit different than the other one we saw. This isn't actually a touch screen machine. For some people, that may be a little confusing.

SAVIDGE: And, you know, it looks daunting with this thing here. I'm a little confused already, myself.

SIEBERG: Well, you know, it does -- it may take a little getting used to for some people. And, you know, there are actually instructions and braille for the blind, we should point out, as well, in case that's even more confusing for someone who comes up to something like this.. They say -- the company says they do it to avoid calibration issues which you would run into for a touch screen, where you would make sure you have to touch the right place on the screen.

SAVIDGE: Got it, OK.

SIEBERG: So, from there, we're going to go to another machine. This one is actually called the iVotronic from Election Systems and Software. This is being -- that one, incidentally, was being used in Houston and Charlottesville, Virginia. This machine is going to be appearing in counties that people can probably remember, Miami/Dade and Broward County in Florida. This will be showing up there. Again, you can also chose you languages on many of these machines. This offers touch screen. Instead of a smart card or a code, what you've got here is the cartridge that the poll worker has to physically insert into the machine before it brings the ballot up. Once it does that, you can then make all of your choices. You can also write-in, if that's something you wish to do. You know, they all look a little bit like a Palm Pilot on steroids, essentially, because they're so big. And the technology behind them is touch screen, though,as opposed to, you know, the ones we saw before where there's a dial wheel.

SAVIDGE: Assuming you know what a Palm Pilot is.

SIEBERG: Right, a lot of people don't. Sure, they may not. A lot of this technology may be very new to many people.

Next, we're going to go here to a machine from Sequoia. This machine, the AVC Edge, also uses a smart card. You would slide it in much the same way, like it's an ATM machine. Then it pulls it up -- and if you want -- Martin, if you want to touch the screen. You can choose your language and you can go through and make any sort of selections that you want, based on your candidates or your issues. And then finally at the very end...

SAVIDGE: Now, it takes away the options once you make a vote.

SIEBERG: That's right. That's an very important point. Because it tries to eliminate overvoting. So you can't actually make two different choices and the voter intent is clearer when they're actually tabulating the results. You can also review all of your choices at the end and make any changes you want.

And finally, we've got another machine from Sequoia, and this one is very different from the other machines. People might wonder why it's actually so large. The idea behind it, in certain places like New York, you actually have to physically see the entire ballot, as opposed to going page by page and screen by screen. And here, if you see, there are actually sensors on the back that register your vote as you push the screen. And then when you're done, you would cast your ballot like that. So it's a little bit different; not as high-tech necessarily as some of the touch screen ones. And again, you know, high-tech doesn't mean problem-free. There are still issues of people, humans, training and so on that's involved. We'll just have to wait and see if they hold up.

SAVIDGE: And there will be people there to help you.

SIEBERG: Yes, the companies do promise there will be people there either from the company or trained by the company at the polling stations.

SAVIDGE: All right, Daniel, thanks very much for the quick walk through.

SIEBERG: Thank you. All right.

SAVIDGE: I hope it goes as smoothly for the voters.

SIEBERG: Right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 4, 2002 - 13:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, he joins us now. He's going to show us some of the ways to vote tomorrow. Not who to vote for, but how to vote. And this is a big issue for many people because the rules have changed and especially the technology.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly. Perhaps the most apparent evidence of the sort of turmoil with voting that happened two years ago. The evidence we're going to see now is all these high-tech voting machines that are being used around the country. And more and more counties are adopting this technology to use and to use for their voters.

So we're going to start with one over here, that's actually of interest to everybody in Georgia, because it's made by Diebold. It's the only machine that is streamlined for the entire state. Georgia is the first and only state to adopt a uniform touch-screen technology. The idea behind is, when you go into the polling booth, you would have a smart card, you would slide the smart card in. Diebold actually makes ATM machines. So they tried to model it after that in a sense. You put the card into the machine. It then loads the ballot into the machine itself. And then there is a touch screen that you would actually manipulate once it loads it in. There are some instructions here. You would type there and then make all of your different choices using the touch screen here. When you're done, you would then cast your ballot. And the card pops up. You give that back to the polling station worker.

SAVIDGE: What if you make a mistake?

SIEBERG: If you make a mistake, you can actually go back and change it before you cast the ballot. Just like you were on a paper ballot, you dropped it into a box, of course you can't go back and get it. In this case, as long as you haven't pushed the cast ballot button, you can go back and make any changes you want after that

SAVIDGE: OK. So this is the state of Georgia, but not necessarily everywhere.

SEIBERG: Right. It's all over the state of Georgia. Every precinct in Georgia will have that Diebold machine.

From there, we're going to go to another machine. This is from Hart InterCivic. And this is a little bit different because it actually doesn't have a touch screen device. What you've got here is a wheel that you actually turn to manipulate it. And instead of coming into the polling booth and having a card to access it, you actually get this four-digit code. Once you're given that code, you go into the polling booth and you finish typing it in using the wheel. Once you type that in, then, the ballot itself actually loads up. And you can see all the different choices that you would make. And then you would use the wheel to actually scroll through and make all your different choices, like so. A little bit different than the other one we saw. This isn't actually a touch screen machine. For some people, that may be a little confusing.

SAVIDGE: And, you know, it looks daunting with this thing here. I'm a little confused already, myself.

SIEBERG: Well, you know, it does -- it may take a little getting used to for some people. And, you know, there are actually instructions and braille for the blind, we should point out, as well, in case that's even more confusing for someone who comes up to something like this.. They say -- the company says they do it to avoid calibration issues which you would run into for a touch screen, where you would make sure you have to touch the right place on the screen.

SAVIDGE: Got it, OK.

SIEBERG: So, from there, we're going to go to another machine. This one is actually called the iVotronic from Election Systems and Software. This is being -- that one, incidentally, was being used in Houston and Charlottesville, Virginia. This machine is going to be appearing in counties that people can probably remember, Miami/Dade and Broward County in Florida. This will be showing up there. Again, you can also chose you languages on many of these machines. This offers touch screen. Instead of a smart card or a code, what you've got here is the cartridge that the poll worker has to physically insert into the machine before it brings the ballot up. Once it does that, you can then make all of your choices. You can also write-in, if that's something you wish to do. You know, they all look a little bit like a Palm Pilot on steroids, essentially, because they're so big. And the technology behind them is touch screen, though,as opposed to, you know, the ones we saw before where there's a dial wheel.

SAVIDGE: Assuming you know what a Palm Pilot is.

SIEBERG: Right, a lot of people don't. Sure, they may not. A lot of this technology may be very new to many people.

Next, we're going to go here to a machine from Sequoia. This machine, the AVC Edge, also uses a smart card. You would slide it in much the same way, like it's an ATM machine. Then it pulls it up -- and if you want -- Martin, if you want to touch the screen. You can choose your language and you can go through and make any sort of selections that you want, based on your candidates or your issues. And then finally at the very end...

SAVIDGE: Now, it takes away the options once you make a vote.

SIEBERG: That's right. That's an very important point. Because it tries to eliminate overvoting. So you can't actually make two different choices and the voter intent is clearer when they're actually tabulating the results. You can also review all of your choices at the end and make any changes you want.

And finally, we've got another machine from Sequoia, and this one is very different from the other machines. People might wonder why it's actually so large. The idea behind it, in certain places like New York, you actually have to physically see the entire ballot, as opposed to going page by page and screen by screen. And here, if you see, there are actually sensors on the back that register your vote as you push the screen. And then when you're done, you would cast your ballot like that. So it's a little bit different; not as high-tech necessarily as some of the touch screen ones. And again, you know, high-tech doesn't mean problem-free. There are still issues of people, humans, training and so on that's involved. We'll just have to wait and see if they hold up.

SAVIDGE: And there will be people there to help you.

SIEBERG: Yes, the companies do promise there will be people there either from the company or trained by the company at the polling stations.

SAVIDGE: All right, Daniel, thanks very much for the quick walk through.

SIEBERG: Thank you. All right.

SAVIDGE: I hope it goes as smoothly for the voters.

SIEBERG: Right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com