After this year's census, it will probably be required to print ballots in nine languages. New York City prints ballots in English, Spanish and two dialects of Chinese. After the census, it will probably add Korean. Riverside's ballots are in English only, but after the census the county expects to add ballots in Spanish, which will not cost extra. Ms. Townsend said she expected the equipment to pay for itself in nine years.
Touch screens can also accommodate people who are blind and disabled.
They can run on battery packs, which makes them portable. Last year, when a pregnant woman came to vote in Riverside and could not get out of her car, elections officials simply picked up a touch-screen machine, which is the size of a laptop computer, and carried it curbside so the woman could vote. The biggest barriers to touch-screen voting are questions about its security and the comfort level that people have with the technology. But, she said, once they receive guidance, ''they see how easy it is.'' In a bit of bad timing for Sequoia, questions arose last week about the error rate of touch screens because of undervoting, or the lack of a vote. The study did not identify a reason, but he speculated that it might relate to voter unease with new technology.