New voting ballots replace
punch cards in Lane County
Lane County voters will use
the new ballots in all future
elections, including Feb. 3’s
election on Measure 30
By Nika Carlson
News Reporter
Hanging chads are a thing of the
past in Lane County.
Optical scan ballots and voting
with dark, black pen marks have re
placed the punch card ballots and
the poked-out chads that were vili
fied in the contested 2000 presiden
tial election.
The new voting system — also called
marksense — arrived at Lane County
Elections in time to be used for the Feb.
3 special election, and voters have al
ready received the new ballots.
"The advantage in the optical sys
tem is for the voter," Lane County
elections official Annette Newingham
said. "It's easier for them to vote."
On the new ballots, voters indicate
their decision by filling in the shaft of
the arrow that points to their choice
using a black pen or No. 2 pencil. Cir
cling the arrow, crossing it out, or
making a light mark will cause a ma
chine to reject the ballot.
In comparison, voters using the
punch card ballots vote by poking out
a small, numbered square of paper
that corresponds to their choice, num
bered on a separate sheet of paper.
Incorrectly punched-out squares,
called "hanging" or "pregnant" chads,
caused the results of Florida's votes in
the 2000 election to be disputed.
The paper squares, however, were
never a problem in Oregon, Newing
ham said.
"Here, we looked for hanging
chads and removed them," she said.
Oregon is a voter-intent state,
meaning Lane County election offi
cials inspect ballots before they are
counted so all votes are still included
even if voters make mistakes that
would cause the machines to reject
the ballot.
"If voter intent is clear, we make
sure it counts," Newingham said.
Political science Professor Priscilla
Southwell said the new ballots are a
great improvement over the punch
card ballots.
"You still have a ballot in the old
sense, but it's just a much more effi
cient and accurate method," she said.
The county has four machines that
count the ballots, Newingham said.
The machines tabulate the results
which are recorded onto a disk. The
disks are then hand-carried to a com
puter where the results are combined.
The computer is not networked to any
others, so hackers can't get into the
system, she said.
Optical scan ballots also leave a pa
per trail — an Oregon requirement —
so that votes can be recounted by
hand.
There is little fear of manipulation
of the system, a criticism that has fre
quently been leveled against electron
ic, touch-screen voting, which does
not produce a paper record.
A study by The Miami Herald after
the 2000 presidential election found
2,119 votes tabulated by the optical
scan system went uncounted because
of voter error in marking a choice.
Voter error, however, doesn't cause a
problem in Oregon because of the
state's policy of inspecting each ballot.
"There always were a few hanging
chads that were missed, (but) we nev
er had an outcome of an election
change because of recounts," Newing
ham said.
Southwell said the push against
punch card voting came about direct
ly in response to problems not only in
Florida but in states throughout the
country in the 2000 elections.
In 2002, federal legislators passed
the Help America Vote Act — which
gives money to states to pay for new,
non-punch card voting systems — in
addition to a number of election re
forms. The Federal Election Com
mission reports that about 25*per
cent of the country used optical scan
ballots in 1996, but that number has
grown rapidly since the 2002 elec
tion reforms.
Lane County's $540,000 system
was paid for mostly in grants from
the Help America Vote Act, Newing
ham said.
Lane County is the last of the 36
Oregon counties to get an optical scan
ballot system in place. Oregon is one
of the few states where all the counties
will use optical scan ballots for all the
2004 elections, according to the office
of Oregon's Secretary of State.
Southwell said she doesn't think
the national push toward optical scan
ballots will change any outcomes in
upcoming elections.
"I just think it will cause fewer
problems," she said. "If there is any
sort of close race, it will prevent the
sort of long delays we had in 2000."
Contact the city/state politics reporter
at nikacarlson@dailyemerald.com.
Neon-rabbit creator speaks at UO
Eduardo Kac discusses
his usage of technology
and genetics to make art
By Chris Potter
Freelance Reporter
Many artists use a palette of colors
to create a picture on canvas, but artist
4,. Eduardo Kac uses genetic code and
cutting-edge technology to push art to
new horizons. His most widely recog
nized work is a rabbit named Alba
that he created about four years ago,
which glows fluorescent green under
special light.
Kac delivered a lecture about his
work in genetics and communication
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to students and community
members at the Lillis Business Com
plex on Thursday.
Alba was created in a lab by insert
ing green fluorescent protein into a
rabbit zygote. He described the rabbit
as "a materialization of fantasy." Kac,
the chairman of the University of
Chicago Art and Technology pro
gram, intended on adopting the rab
bit into his own home after it spent a
short time at the lab. His effort was
blocked, and the rabbit is still living at
the lab. He responded by creating a
"Free Alba" campaign complete with
a flag picturing his exiled glowing
green pet on a white background.
Kac's transgenic art has created
controversy with people who question
the ethics of manipulating genetic ma
terial. Concerns about human inter
vention in genetics were also raised at
the lecture by audience members.
University student Amjad Faur
asked Kac whether he would turn his
child green. Kac responded by saying
that he is not having a child.
"That decision determined that an
imal's fate," Faur said, referring to
Alba. "If he feels like he has done
something to better the world, God
bless him."
Kac responded to concerns about
the ethics of genetic manipulation
by saying that it is not done only by
Turn to NEON, page 12
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