The Center of Integrity, Empowerment & Fairness, Inc., (CIEF, Inc.) is a not-for-profit organization that was created to collect old voting machines no longer used by Indiana counties.
The Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA) was instituted in 2002 and mandated that states be required to be in compliance by December 2005 with new voting regulations and machines. Each of the 50 states were required stop using punch card or lever-type voting machines—rendering the machines obsolete—and were required to purchase new electronic voting systems.
“The machines were simply being stored in the basement of the county courthouse. Now they can be utilized once again,” Rush County Clerk Linda Sheehan said.
The machines were slated to remain unused or were going to be destroyed or simply recycled for scrap metal; now they will be able to be used elsewhere.
Prior to this weekend, CIEF had collected nearly 450 unused machines. That number grew when Ball State University’s Dr. Pierre Atchade met Sheehan and began loading Rush County’s machines into a pickup truck.
“My biggest primary concern was that the machines would be destroyed. Now it is to collect them and send them to Africa where they can be used,” Atchade said.
According to Atchade, the machines will be used to promote democracy in Benin Republic, West Africa.
According to the college professor, the machines will assist in preserving established principals of good governance and the separation of power, through developing fair and efficient voting.
“We are so glad to get these machines, every little bit helps,” Atchade sad.
Atchade continued by saying the next step in the process will be to transport the voting devices overseas.
“That is a step for down the road. We are still collecting the machines at this time,” he said.
The Benin Republic was the first African country to move from autocratic to a democratic form of government.
The United States signed a millennium challenge in January 2006 in the amount of $307 million to improve the physical and institutional infrastructure of Benin. The use of the punch card voting machines is another means that will assist in the modernization for the successful democratization of West Africa.
“I am glad that we are in a position to help, and the machines were not doing the county any service sitting in the courthouse basement,” Sheehan said.
Frank Denzler can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 or via e-mail at frank.denzler@cnhimedia.com. To add a comment to this story visit our Website at www.rushvillerepublican.com.
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