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Published February 28, 2008 01:28 am - Robert Lebzelter column for March 2, 2008 Voting via home computers worth considering A Robert Lebzelter column Star Beacon Tuesday is yet another election. And like so many times before, Ohio is in the spotlight with the Democratic primary vote. The second election I ever covered in Ashtabula County was also the first time the county Board of Elections utilized computers. Except the board couldn’t afford a computer system then. They were too expensive, too cumbersome, too complicated. So the board contracted out with Northeastern Ohio National Bank in Jefferson to handle the counting of ballots. Those of us in the news media cooled our heals in the lobby of the bank all night, literally, waiting for results. At first, they came through slow. Then slower. Eventually, the counting stopped. The final, unofficial votes came out after 8 a.m. the next day. Today computers are small and relatively inexpensive. My guess is your average home computer is probably far more advanced than what was used at the bank so many years ago. So voting and counting of ballots should be a snap these days. You would think. But somehow, recording and counting ballots remains filled with problems. It has resulted in questionable elections. It has been the genesis for movie documentaries questioning just how well our democracy functions. Here in Ashtabula County we are back to paper ballots. So is Cuyahoga. Whoever programmed the ballot counters erred during the last election, resulting in one race having to be hand counted. Ashtabula County’s election board is always one of the last to report votes, hours after adjoining Lake and Geauga county boards have completed their work and went home. You have to wonder, what is so complicated about counting ballots? Why shouldn’t the whole country be uniform in the way people vote, using the same equipment. 
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