I presume that it will be possible to have some advanced voting choices (1, 2, etc.-- ratings) with the higher tech touchscreens. ------ Fla. Rids Itself of Punch-Card Ballots CALLAHAN, Fla. (AP) - With punch card ballots banned in Florida after last fall's election fiasco, communities across the state are looking into new voting equipment. On Tuesday, 150 voters in this tiny north Florida community became the first to put to the test one of the two state-approved options - touchscreen voting machines. ``No more hanging, dimpled or pregnant chads,'' Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan said after getting a demonstration of the machines, which work like automated teller machines. Tuesday's election in Callahan, a town of 527 registered voters, was for three of its four town council members. In the last presidential election, the two Callahan precincts had 133 overvotes and 12 undervotes, or blank votes. There were no blanks Tuesday, though one person walked out without voting. ``We had absolutely no problems,'' said Vicki Peterson Cannon, Nassau County supervisor of elections. ``The citizens, regardless of their race or age or anything, they were just extremely pleased and we're pleased as well.'' In future elections statewide, Florida voters will have to use either touchscreen or optical scanning machines, similar to the scanners used to score standardized school tests. Punch cards were banned because of their role in the recounts and court fights that delayed the results of the 2000 presidential election by more than a month. The touchscreens will not let voters cast more than one vote in each race. They will allow voters to skip a race, but will ask them if they are doing so intentionally. ``It was very, very easy, and I liked the fact that you could review your ballot,'' said Callahan voter JoAnn Swafford, 56. Election Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., is the only company now certified by the state to sell touchscreen machines. The company offered Callahan free use of the technology for Tuesday's election, Cannon said. Buying enough of the machines for Nassau County's 38,000 registered voters would cost about $700,000. Touchscreens have been in use for several years in Greensboro, N.C., and have seen some use in Dallas, said Dan McGinnis, vice president sales for ES&S. The touchscreens are more expensive than optical scanning systems but they could save money in big counties by eliminating the cost of printing and storing paper ballots. Florida's Pasco County, north of Tampa, has already contracted with ES&S to begin a move to touchscreens.
