Election board member defends accuracy of new electronic voting machines

County Clerk Jim Fielder, a member of the Monroe County Election Board, disagrees with claims Verify the Vote has made that voting machines in Monroe County have a high chance of error.\nJim Allison and Cynthia Hoffman, members of Verify the Vote, a newly formed group in Monroe County, presented information to the public at a meeting Wednesday night. They cited problems with voting machines and their ability to be hacked, referencing a report by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. \nNow, Verify the Vote is pushing for a way to test the machines on Election Day and wants future elections to have voter-verified paper ballots, which would record the votes on paper as well as electronically. Allison said 27 states have mandated the use of voter-verified ballots.\nFielder, however, said he is confident in the machines. \n"If I thought for a minute that we really had a problem with these machines, we would have already stopped using them," Fielder, one of three members on the board, said.\nFielder said verified voter paper ballots are not necessary, and he does not think the machines can be hacked. He said he has not formed opinions one way or the other about the Brennan report, but he is trying to keep an open mind about it.\n"I certainly want people to have confidence in our equipment, and to that degree, I understand the overall concept of this group's concern," he said. "But I did offer them two different solutions on their concern about the machines themselves." \nFielder's two options for wary voters include: voting by absentee ballot, which is done by paper, or casting provisional ballots, which allow voters to show up without a photo ID on Election Day to vote by paper, provided that they show a valid ID within 10 days so the provisional vote is counted. \nFielder also said voter-verified paper ballots would violate Indiana law because they would require voters to take a receipt with them when leaving, which is illegal in the state of Indiana.\nAllison said this claim is only common confusion. The type of voting they want to implement does not break any laws, he said. \n"In the kind of machine we're talking about, you don't leave with a receipt," Allison said. "It simply shows you this piece of paper beyond the glass. You look at it and read it but can't actually handle it." \nFielder suggested if Verify the Vote wants to make any major changes, it should go straight to Indiana legislators to prove the machines are not from a trustworthy company. \n"If you really think that they are that bad, then the people to talk to are your state senators and your state representatives," Fielder said. "It's going to have to be a legislative action for them to quit marketing the direct recording equipment." \nFielder said he believes the machines work properly.\n"I am the one that's in this office every day," he said. "When the election's over with, I'm the one that gets the phone calls, the complaints, everything that goes with it, and I certainly wouldn't be using equipment that would put myself in any kind of compromise on this. I've seen the different systems in use in Indiana, and I believe we have a very accurate system. Nothing has ever been shown to me to make me feel otherwise." \nPrior to Wednesday night's meeting, Allison voiced his thoughts on why officials are hesitant to do the testing. \n"If you have a public official who is reluctant to audit his machines in any way, you have to ask why," Allison said. "I would have to conclude it's because he's afraid of what he's going to find out about them. You cannot depend on them." \nAt a meeting Sept. 20, Fielder and the rest of the board will listen to the group's complaints and evaluate any decisions in testing the machines on Election Day. \n"I'm willing to listen to what the group says here, but again, I just have never seen anything that makes me believe that we have something to worry about there," he said.