Reply #10: Nat: CBS: Florida Dumps Touch-Screen Voting Machines [View All]

Florida Dumps Touch-Screen Voting Machines
State Will Shift From Controversial Electronic Systems To Ballots With Verifiable Paper Trails

CBS News, AP
May 5, 2007
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/05/politics/main2763769.shtml

With one large bill passed in the state Legislature, Florida tried to slam the door on a rocky electoral past and bared itself for more elections scrutiny.

Touch-screen voting machines used in 15 counties will soon be discarded for a verifiable paper-trail system, a move borne out of both the political climate and real concerns that the machines are unreliable.

And, ignoring national party threats and angering other states, Florida will likely be the fourth state to choose the presidential nominees next January.

Voters in 15 counties — comprising about 50 percent of the Florida electorate — will make that choice on touch-screen machines because there won't be enough time to make the changeover before the Jan. 29 vote. Supervisors of elections in those counties will be gearing up for the changeover to optical-scan systems while conducting the election using technology on the way out.

"For the general election it all should be in place," Gov. Charlie Crist said Saturday. He is expected to sign the bill (HB 537) in the next month or so. "Would I rather it be sooner than later? Sure I would. But I'm darn glad it's going to happen now."

Before Florida reaches what Secretary of State Kurt Browning called the "end of the line" of elections evolution — a verifiable paper trail —it has decided to brighten the national spotlight that was first cast on it in 2000, and switched back on in November in a still-disputed congressional race.

"Hopefully the presidential primary won't be a repeat of our election but if we get our investigation completed in time that will help us not only find out what happened in November but hopefully prevent it from happening in January," said David Kochman, a spokesman for Democrat Christine Jennings, who is still contesting her 369-vote defeat to Republican Vern Buchanan in District 13.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/05/politics/main2763769.shtml