CLEVELAND – The newly appointed director of elections in Cuyahoga County said yesterday getting ready for the presidential election in November 2008 depends largely on the result of tests on electronic voting machines now under way.

Jane Platten, who was selected in June to run voting in Ohio’s most populous county, said during remarks at the City Club of Cleveland that assuring the reliability of touch-screen voting remains her big concern.

The Cuyahoga County elections board, which had difficulties adapting to electronic voting starting May 2006, is under direct oversight of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, and Platten said she has discussions with Brunner weekly.

That 2006 election day in Cuyahoga County was marred by absent or poorly trained poll workers, lost vote-holding computer cards and a polling place that opened hours late.

Brunner in late September started a process to put Ohio’s electronic voting systems through testing to pinpoint potential or actual problems.

Brunner is a Democrat. A bipartisan team of elections officials will advise in the testing process, review findings and help with recommendations for a final report to Gov. Ted Strickland and the state Legislature by about Dec. 14.

If it runs later that that, elections officials statewide might have to make changes in a hurry. Next year’s primary is earlier than usual, March 4.

Platten said she is working closely with the county’s voting machine vendor, Diebold Inc.’s Premier Election Solutions, to refine electronic voting.

“That’s something we have to think about everyday,” Platten said. “Until we get a mandate that something’s different, we have to conduct and prepare for elections based on what we have.”

She said occasional paper jams or other printing glitches hindering clarity of paper printouts from touch-screen machines is an ongoing concern. Those printouts are crucial in the event of a recount.

She said procedure changes made in 2006, particularly training of poll workers on new voting technology, will continue for 2008. She doesn’t expect finding enough people to be poll workers will be a problem.

Platten said she will try to increase absentee voting done by mail that will produce paper ballots counted using optical scanners.

“That is potentially huge in terms of something that’s different” for 2008, she said. An expected voting turnout in November next year of about 75 percent could stress touch-screen voting or result in long lines at polling places, she said.

“The more voters we can get to vote by mail, the less voters we have at the polling locations,” she said.