Reply #11: PA: Group calls for phased entry of electronic voting machines [View All]

Group calls for phased entry of electronic voting machines

Sunday, December 25, 2005

By Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How comfortable would you be if your bank asked you to deposit cash into an automated banking machine that doesn't give you a receipt?

Itzi Meztli wants Butler County voters to think about that as the county switches to a computer touch-screen voting system that doesn't have a paper trail that verifies balloting.

The Slippery Rock University English professor was among about a dozen people who asked Butler County commissioners last week to derail plans to switch from punch cards to touch-screens.

Commissioners, however, voted 2-1 in favor of a resolution to make the change and receive more than $900,000 in federal funds to purchase the balloting machines, most likely before the May primary election.

Dr. Meztli, vice president of the Butler County Democrats for Change, asked that the county consider phasing into the touch-screen system by purchasing only one unit per voting precinct. There currently are 82 precincts in the county, but that will increase to 85 in 2006.

More: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05359/626710.stm