CHEYENNE - Lynne Fox knows her job is getting hectic when the pain starts creeping into her lower back.

Lately, the Unita County Clerk is rummaging through the medicine cabinet a lot.

Wyoming's 23 county clerks are bracing for a monstrous list of responsibilities this year.

In addition to overseeing the 2006 elections, computing county budgets and running for election themselves, the clerks are in charge of implementing one of the largest overhauls of voting technology in national history.

One reason for the anxiety is that some counties are still tallying votes on 50-year-old machines.

The new gear incorporates high-tech features and special options so that the disabled can cast their ballots with ease. The federal legislation behind the upgrade n the Help America Vote Act n requires polling places to be handicap accessible.

So instead of just mastering the art of punch cards and lever-operated voting machines, poll workers must be versed in touch-screen technology, audio ballots for the hearing impaired and even breath-activated voting for the severely disabled.

Some states also are required to provide ballots in several languages.

Wyoming is exempt because, based on the 2000 Census, most residents speak fluent English.

Voters who don't require special accommodations will cast their votes on "optical scan" ballots.

Instead of punching the card or pulling the lever, they'll darken a small oval next to the names of their favorite candidates on a paper ballot.

Then they'll feed the ballots into a scanner that records the votes on site and transfers them to computer disk. The disks eliminate the need to count ballots by hand and should shave off time the counting process, State Elections Director Peggy Nighswonger said.

Much of the new technology comes via the passage of the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, in response to the fiasco surrounding the 2000 presidential election in Florida. As part of the legislation, lawmakers earmarked millions for states to upgrade their voting technology. Wyoming's piece of the pie was $16.5 million.

County clerks used the cash to hire companies that specialize in voting systems. Contractors installed the voting machines and spent two or three days training clerks and their staffs to use the technology.

"It's a huge task and a huge process," Johnson County Clerk Linda Barnhart said.

Wyoming missed the Jan. 1 deadline to install a new voter registration system required by HAVA. The state is severing ties with the Accenture LLP, the contractor that won an $8.8 million contract and then failed to deliver the system on time, Nighswonger said. One of the biggest jobs clerks face is educating poll workers about the new equipment.

Many poll workers are seniors, and some have limited experience with technology.

"It will be a real switch," Nighswonger said.

A handful of Wyoming's largest counties are getting off easier than others.

Teton, Fremont, Albany, Unita and Natrona counties have been using the "optical scan" voting machines for some time.

They're still trading up for the new models, but the clerks already have a solid understanding of the technology, Natrona County Clerk Mary Ann Collins said.

"It's the very same system, it's just an upgraded machine," Collins added.

Another challenge will be instructing voters on how to use the new machines.

To help avoid the deluge of election-day questions about the equipment, Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese and her staff are offering public demonstrations.

Freese set up a voting machine at the county winter fair this year and let voters experience all the bells and whistles at their leisure. Her office also will demonstrate the machines at senior centers, schools, political gatherings and at Riverton's summer Day in the Park.

A law passed by the 2005 Wyoming Legislature might also might ease some of the election-day headaches. Lawmakers reduced the minimum age requirement for poll workers to 16.

The move was primarily intended to get the younger generation revved up about the democratic process, and to take pressure off current poll workers.

But county clerks are eager to hire the teenagers for another reason: most have probably been using computers since they were old enough to walk, and they'll feel at ease with the new voting technology.

"Younger kids are good with that sort of thing," Nighswonger said.

But public demonstrations and help from a few 16-year-olds only goes so far.

County clerks and their staff will face many of the challenges on their own.

And they know if they got it right until Election Day.

Reach Star-Tribune capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at 1. jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.