When it comes to technology, the Diocese of California has not necessarily been on the fast track. Signs of change were spotted, however, at this year's Diocesan Convention, held at Grace Cathedral on October 22, 2005. For the first time in its 156-year history, the convention's election ballots were counted by machine. The Pearson NCS Optical Scanner became the official ballot counter of the 156th convention, and appeared to be up to the task.

The Rev. David Forbes, Election Commissioner for the convention said of the new system, "As the one who had to do the hard work of counting in the past, it was simple, easy, and a dream -- a half an hour from start to finish each time for four hundred votes." Forbes said that he looks forward to using the electronic vote counter at the Special Convention to elect the Eighth Bishop of California, to be held May 6, 2006.

In 2004, the 155th Convention adjourned without a final count of the ballots. Delegates passed the time by taking turns reporting about new ministries in their congregations, telling jokes, relaying items of interest to Episcopalians, telling more jokes, all while waiting for election results -- which did not come until about two hours after the last delegate had left the cathedral.

This year, as ballots were handed out, the Rev. Dennis Tierney, Associate Rector of St. Bede's, Menlo Park, and a veteran public school teacher was heard to exclaim, "Hey, it's Scantron voting!" Educators have been using this type of data collection for more than thirty years. Most standardized tests given to students use answer sheets where small "bubbles" are blacked in with a No. 2 pencil. The answer sheets are then scanned by a machine that translates the marked bubbles into test results. Voting uses the same technology, and is much faster and more efficient than humans reading, counting, and re-reading and re-counting the votes.

Elections of bishops can go on over several ballots, as a majority of both the lay and clergy orders is required to elect a bishop. With more than two candidates on each ballot, it's not always easy to get a majority, and repeated result counts are the most time-consuming aspect of an electing convention. In May 2006, the counts of each ballot should take only about a half-hour for each ballot, saving delegates from hearing (or telling) numerous bad jokes.