The secretary of state is moving forward with a plan to allow Ohio to approve new voting devices for use by eliminating the need to have the equipment also meet federal standards for accuracy, security and reliability.

The move could be accomplished with an executive order from the governor to change state rules, which now say that Ohio cannot approve a voting system for use in the state that has not been federally certified.

Florida, New York and other states are taking similar action, saying it takes the feds too long to approve federal testing standards and certify new systems.

But critics say Ohio should wait and not rush new equipment into service that hasn’t been federally approved – especially with Ohio expected to play a key role in this year’s presidential election.

The idea behind the action is to allow Cuyahoga County, the state’s most populous, and perhaps others to buy the most updated voting systems for the Nov. 4 election instead of being forced to use older models.

The state would do its own testing of the new equipment, paid by the machine vendors, using federally approved labs and state standards being updated that would meet or exceed the federal ones, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said.

“I at least want to do everything within my power to move this process along to give the (county elections boards) the best resources we can possibly give them,” Brunner said today after the state Board of Voting Machine Examiners voted 2-1 to proceed with the plan.

Board member Dale Fellows, who also sits on the Lake County Board of Elections, opposed the move on grounds it isn’t wise to rush such a change – which was the major complaint about the process used when counties bought voting devices currently in use with nearly $100 million in federal funds.

Although Brunner’s office plans to craft demanding standards, Fellows argued that federal approval of several new systems is expected late this year or in 2009, and that Ohio shouldn’t put new devices into use without federal blessing.

“That federal stamp of approval is pretty darn important,” Fellows said.

The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission develops standards for voting machines and oversees their certification, but critics say the process is too slow while approved equipment gets outdated and harder to keep in service.

The Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners is responsible for reviewing changes to voting systems and making recommendations to the secretary of state.

There’s pressure to act because after Brunner commissioned a report last fall that was critical of touch-screen voting machines, Cuyahoga County scrapped its machines in favor of optically scanned paper ballots.

But those ballots were all counted at a central location, and the legislature voted earlier this year to prohibit the central counting of ballots after the March 4 primary because it doesn’t give voters a “second chance” to cast a correct ballot.

That will require Cuyahoga and Van Wert and Mercer counties, which also made the switch, to secure scanners that can count ballots at the precinct level. Those scanners notify voters when they make a mistake, such as voting for too many candidates in a race, allowing them to mark another ballot.

Cuyahoga and other counties don’t want to spend taxpayer money on older, federally certified precinct scanners when a newer, updated model is available but hasn’t yet secured federal approval.

Board Chairwoman Inajo Davis Chappell, who also sits on the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, argued it’s in the best interest of all counties to be able to use the newest, most reliable equipment.

David Farrell, Brunner’s chief of elections, said there also are four counties that are anxious to change their voting systems this year and about seven or eight others that would consider it if funding were available.

Brunner had asked the legislature to approve an estimated $64 million to replace touch screens used in 53 of the state’s 88 counties with paper-ballot systems.

But state leaders so far have balked at such a move, and Brunner has conceded it’s not likely the funding will be approved this year.

So Brunner plans to order Franklin and other counties using touch-screens to make paper ballots available at the polls in November if voters want them or to alleviate long lines, and she’s also floating the idea of a revolving-loan fund.

Using federal funds and possible other sources of money, the state would offer loans to counties to buy new equipment now that they could pay for over time in installments, Brunner said.

The plan would require legislative approval, and some leaders have expressed reservations about making major changes to Ohio’s elections so close to the Nov. 4 presidential election.