VOTING ACCURACY Another consideration in the paper ballot matter is storage. In Jackson County, each election generates three or four of boxes full of absentee ballots and rolls of ticker-tape computer printouts. That volume will likely quadruple once the switch is made to paper ballots, said Lovedahl-Lehman. “You need to keep up with all the ones that have been voted and even ones that haven’t been voted,” LovedahlLehman said. Storage will likely be the number one challenge for Jackson County, she said, because of the small amount of space her office has. Ballots, both used and unused, must be kept for at least 22 months. Next to cost and storage space, the biggest hurdle will be teaching people how to fill out the paper ballots. While it’s easy in theory — just fill in the bubble for the candidate you want — there is always the chance for human error. Inman said he has seen people color in circles for all the candidates in a race, only to mark out two. The electronic machines also tend to be more accurate than paper ballots because they eliminate human error. The
machines warn voters if they voted for too many people in one race and ask repeatedly if the person is sure about their vote. “If there is one thing that frustrates people, it asks you too many times if you are sure,” Inman said. It also forces people to review all their votes one last time before submitting them. “The types of electronic voting we have now result in fewer errors,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. Cooper added that he is puzzled why state leaders would choose to use paper ballots in elections. “It really is counter to what is happening in the rest of the country,” Cooper said. Every year, Cooper has some of his students try to tally up votes from the 2008 Coleman-Franken U.S. Senate race. The election was so tight that it ended in a recount, and a number of the ballots were contested because it was difficult to gauge the voter’s intent. Since starting the exercise, Cooper’s students have never gotten the same vote totals, he said. The count is subjective because marks may be barely there or someone may have tried to erase their original vote and cast one for the other candidate. “Counting paper ballots is harder than it sounds,” Cooper said. On the other hand, the votes from the electronic voting machines usually add up. “Sometimes, it takes us five or six times, but they always come out correct,” Lovedahl-Lehman said. Paper ballots will also increase the amount of time it takes to audit the votes. Every election, a couple of races are chosen for review. This helps ensure the accuracy of the vote counts. With the electronic machines, the audit only takes a couple days. With paper ballots, it will take longer. “I am not looking forward to auditing 2,500 paper ballots,” Lovedahl-Lehman said. Not to mention races where candidates ask for a recount.
Home building, commercial development climbing in Jackson
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costs, including staff salaries and voting equipment. Lovedahl-Lehman said they try to be frugal. “If we don’t need it, we don’t buy it,” she said. “Or we try to do it in-house.” The Jackson election office returned as much as $50,000 back to the county one year thanks to penny-pinching. Lovedahl-Lehman said she hopes the commissioners consider that when faced with the $500,000 cost of new voting equipment. “I hope that they do remember,” she said. Macon and Swain counties already use paper ballots, so they will not be affected by the change. “It will not affect us, thank goodness,” said Joan Weeks, director of the Swain County Board of Elections.
The building sector in Jackson County has continued its upward swing in 2013. For the first half of the year, the county issued permits to build more than 90 new homes, and about a third of those were for houses worth $500,000 or more. The new construction signals a renewed interest in spending and promises short-term jobs for area workers. “Contractors, electricians and plumbers, most of them have work now,” said Tony Elders, director of permitting and code enforcement for the county. “And there were times they didn’t have anything to do.” The residential construction figures put the county in the lead among other counties west of Buncombe and ahead of its own tallies from the same period last year. Apart from residential construction activity, the county also issued permits for 18 new commercial buildings in the first seven months of 2013 — a new bank along U.S. 441 heading toward Cherokee, a doctor’s office near the hospital in Sylva and a new office building in Cashiers, to name a few. Six of those permits came in the month of July alone. More to come soon will be the county’s new liquor store in Cashiers, a Verizon store and a drive through burger joint in Sylva. During 2008 and 2009, Elders said only a couple of commercial building permits were issued each year. “That’s a big deal,” he said. “That number dies during the recession.” — By Staff Writer Andrew Kasper
August 14-20, 2013 Smoky Mountain News 17