Shelley confident counties will use touch-screen voting in fall -Calif.

Posted on Thu, May. 20, 2004


Shelley confident counties will use touch-screen voting in fall

JIM WASSERMAN

Associated Press


SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said he is confident that 10 counties will be able to use their touch-screen voting machines in the Nov. 2 election, though voters in four other counties will remain banned from using their electronic voting systems.

Shelley told the Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee the 10 counties have largely agreed to conditions he set last month to use their machines, including precautions to prevent tampering and giving paper ballots to voters who prefer them. Last month he decertified touch-screen voting for November unless counties meet a host of conditions.

"I'm very confident that all the counties eventually will come in," he said Wednesday during the hearing into electronic voting problems during Orange County's March 2 election.

But his confidence doesn't extend to four other counties - San Diego, San Joaquin, Kern and Solano - banned from using their machines in November. Shelley sidelined computer voting equipment in the four to punish manufacturer Diebold Election Systems, Inc., saying the company lacked federal approval for the machines.


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