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These posts are really great Lesley. Please keep them coming. Guy Lancaster (former employee) used to
post information like this regularly on the old staff site. If you would be interested in being our
company news reporter, I would be happy to get this stuff on the staff site for
you. Ken -----Original Message----- KSU
has role in new voting - Center paves way for machines Atlanta Journal Constitution Bryan Long - Staff Thursday, June 20, 2002 Georgia -- If Georgia's first all-electronic general election
goes smoothly this fall, much of the credit will go to Kennesaw State
University. The school received $500,000 to open a Center for Election
Systems to coordinate election preparation with the secretary of state and to
teach election officials the technical side of new machines that look more like
automated teller machines than traditional paper ballots. With qualifying for the Aug. 20 elections to end at noon
Friday, the election season is officially in full swing. The election center is led by Neil Hall, a KSU professor of
computer science. Hall and his team are working behind the scenes to find and
solve problems that will arise as the state receives 19,015 electronic voting
machines. The machines will be used in November's election. This year, the center will focus primarily on proving the
machines work properly, but the work's scope will expand in future elections.
The idea is to create a one-call shop for election problems. "If you're an election official and you have a question
but you don't know where that question should go, call KSU," said Michael
Barnes, assistant director of elections for the secretary of state's office. The center has set up a Web site and a toll-free number as
quick ways to answer those questions. It's a system that's unique to Georgia. It's an inspiration
that followed the problems of the 2000 presidential election and is directly
tied to the state's purchase of a new voting system. While many states have looked to change election machines
after the election, only Georgia has thrown out all the old machines to make
way for identical polling booths statewide. "Every other state in the country will be following
what we're doing," Secretary of State Cathy Cox has said. And to make sure Georgia provides an example of the right
way to roll out the system, KSU was asked to monitor the process and provide
technical assistance in the future. The secretary of state and the university
have worked together for years on other projects. |