purred to action by Florida's election tumult, Secretary of State William F. Galvin is planning to ask the Legislature to appropriate millions of dollars in loans for Massachusetts communities to modernize their voting systems.
Galvin said Friday he will discuss the idea with city and town clerks at an already-scheduled meeting in early February in Sturbridge. He said he wants to build a consensus among the clerks, then calculate how much money he will request from the Legislature for low- or no-interest loans.
''Our potential problems in the Commonwealth are far less signficant than the ones they've experienced in Florida,'' Galvin said. ''But the obvious argument is that ... now's probably the time to think about updating.''
Galvin said nearly three-quarters of Massachusetts voters use sophisticated optical scanning systems. He said he received no complaints of significant irregularities this year from any of the communities that use old-style voting machines, paper ballots, or punch-card devices, which officials say are far more reliable than those that have provoked a historic legal battle between Vice President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush of Texas.
Even without evidence of a problem in Massachusetts, Galvin said, he thinks the public sentiment generated by the election mess in Florida, combined with a flush state treasury, make the time right for municipalities with aging systems to buy new equipment. The cost of high-tech voting devices ranges from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars per community, depending on how many are needed.
Comparing the situation to buying snowplows while the roads are clear, rather than after they're blanketed with snow, Galvin said: ''Why wait until something big happens before we act?''
Massachusetts already uses a high percentage of sophisticated equipment precisely because something big did happen here four years ago: A cliffhanger election in the 10th Congressional District ended with a dispute over punch-card ballots (the same type as those disputed in Florida), the apparent loser demanded a recount, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ultimately had to decide the outcome.
William D. Delahunt, who successfully challenged Philip Johnston's seeming initial victory, still represents the district. But his election wasn't the only significant result of the vituperative legal dispute that grew out of the race.
After the case was completed, Galvin got rid of the punch-card system that had been used. He declared that it was too vulnerable to miscounts and, during recounts, too susceptible to misinterpretation over ''voter intent'' because of dimpled or otherwise potentially unclear ballots.
The state Legislature, at Galvin's request, then approved more than $2 million for interest-free loans so communities could update their voting systems. Over the following two years, all 35 of the municipalities that had used the punch-card ballots switched to high-tech optical scanners.
There are two versions of that system. In one, voters fill in circles next to candidates' names; in the other, they draw lines pointing to their preference. The ballots are inserted into a machine that scans and tallies them, and election observers say their markings are so clear that there is rarely any ambiguity about voter intent when they are visually checked.
Today, according to the secretary of state's office, 72.9 percent of Massachusetts voters live in communities with optical-scaning systems. Just over 20 percent employ aging voting machines, which are generally considered reliable but eventually have to be replaced because they are no longer built.
An additional 2 percent of voters - living in Dighton, Franklin, Milton, and Lawrence - use a seemingly secure form of cards that contain candidates' names and are punched with a mechanized lever, rather than by hand. The final 4.5 percent, in 79 small communities statewide, still use paper ballots.
Galvin said he would model his plan to update the remainder of the state's voting systems on his initiative of four years ago.
''I'm sure it's going to be a major topic of discussion for us'' during the meeting in Fitchburg, he said. He added that the manufacturers of various, competing modern voting methods would send representatives to the February session to try to win customers.
Calls to a dozen cities and towns around the state last week indicated that Galvin will find a receptive audience.
All the clerks interviewed said they had experienced no significant problems during balloting last month. But most added that they already were either looking into updating their systems or were thinking about doing so as a result of Florida's election travails.
Milton's clerk, James Mullen, said he chose his town's current punch-card devices in 1984 - after rejecting strong pitches from the makers of ballots identical to those at issue in Florida.
''They made a tremendous effort to sell me that kind of system,'' Mullen said, ''but even back then it was easy to see that it was just asking for problems.''
