Maryland's rush to convert 19 counties to touch-screen voting before the March 6 primary election will impose a tough deadline, local officials say, leading Howard County's elections administrator to warn yesterday that the pressure could create "the combination for disaster" on election day.
"I feel very uneasy about it. There are too many loose ends," said administrator Robert J. Antonetti, who has a staff of seven and 33 years of experience running election boards in Prince George's and Howard counties.
Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith asked the state to delay using the new machines in his county until 2006, to give the county time to ensure that technical questions about the security of voting results can be resolved. State officials rejected the request.
"We can't afford to be on the leading edge of technology when it comes to elections. They have a myriad of problems to fix, which we knew were going to be the case," Smith said, calling the March deadline "an arbitrary timetable that is totally unnecessary."
Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens said that although she is confident of her county board's abilities, she is concerned about the short time frame, especially when it comes to educating voters, said her spokesman, Matt Diehl.
An independent review of the proposed voting system concluded there is a "high risk of compromise" by outsiders, though state officials say they can fix the problems.
The 16,500 new Diebold, Inc. machines are waiting in Maryland warehouses, said Jim Petit, spokesman for the state board, who added: "As far as the state Board of Elections goes, it's full speed ahead."
State officials rejected the option of waiting until the November 2004 presidential election to use the machines — which was Antonetti's choice — because they didn't want to break in a new system with a higher voter turnout.
Better to work out any bugs with fewer voters in a primary, Petit said.
Federal funds totaling $22 million will pay most of the cost.
Other county election administrators, however, said yesterday that the job can and must be done despite the short lead time.
"Yes, it will be tight. I think we're all nervous," said Rita Dather, Harford County's election director.
"It will be difficult, hard work, but I don't see any major problems," said Gail Carter, deputy elections administrator in Carroll County.
Jackie McDaniel, Baltimore County's elections administrator, said "it's a short amount of time, but I feel confident we can do it." She did acknowledge, though, "this is cutting it close."
Guy Harriman, chairman of Howard's election board, also disagreed with Antonetti.
"We go with what the state dictates we do," he said, adding that "I personally believe we will have it done."
Mark Radke, director of voter industry for Diebold Election Systems, said the company should have no problem meeting Maryland's deadline.
He pointed to the November elections last year in Georgia, when "we had about the same time period to provide 22,000 machines for the entire state."
Kimbell Brace, president of Election Data Services, a Washington elections research firm, said the vital question is how much support and training Diebold — the company supplying the machines — will provide.
"The problem we've always had is that the [election] judges tend to be older individuals who are less inclined electronically. Training is the most critical thing," he said.
The machines were used last year in four counties. Montgomery County experienced problems in the September primary that year — the machines' debut — that delayed vote counts until 2 a.m. Baltimore has a separate electronic system.
Still, Margaret Jurgensen, Montgomery County elections director, said there is enough time now to change the rest of the state, using what was learned from the first counties to make the conversion.
"The state [election board] learned quite a bit working with the various-sized jurisdictions — the timeline and how important teamwork is. I believe that everyone is building toward success," she said.
Robin Downs, Prince George's County elections administrator and president of the Maryland Association of Election Officials, said:
"Of course there is going to be a learning curve. We've done it before. We're professionals. Not to say it is not going to be horrendous, because it usually is."
But Antonetti has serious doubts.
"There are 161 days before the primary," Antonetti said. Subtracting weekends, holidays and the 10 days before the election — when everything must be certified as ready — "there are only 109 working days. It's a pretty close call. When you have to rush things, it opens the door to possible errors," he said.
Overseas absentee ballots must be ready, and election judge training must begin by the end of January, he said. "I don't want to be an alarmist, but I don't feel very comfortable."
Others are muting their fears, he said.
Sun staff writer David Nitkin contributed to this article.
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