Premature poll shift shouldn't be forced

Ohioans shouldn't allow the American Civil Liberties Union to force them into a wholesale switch from existing voting methods to new electronic election machines. Exchanging one flawed system for another questionable one isn't progress.
Federal law requires that all states upgrade elections procedures and equipment - but it doesn't have to be done in time for this November's elections. Nevertheless, elections officials in some Ohio counties had hoped to begin using new electronic voting machines this fall.

But testing and evaluation of various machines has revealed a variety of concerns, according to Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the state's chief elections officer. A preliminary study of machines from three suppliers revealed 57 problems, many of them related to security. A more recent study continued to uncover problems.

That has prompted Blackwell to reject a plan by Hardin, Lorain and Trumbull counties to switch to electronic voting machines in time for the November election. Most counties - including those in East Ohio - plan to stick with voting equipment they have used for several years.

It's not that local elections officials aren't eager to begin using the new electronic equipment - but too many concerns about security have been raised.

ACLU officials don't care about that, apparently. They have filed a lawsuit against the state, protesting use of old punch-card ballots in many counties. Use of such ballots discriminates against black Ohioans, the ACLU claims.

Clearly, the ACLU is trying to force Ohio into a massive switch to electronic voting machines before the November election. "A piecemeal approach isn't going to accomplish what we want to accomplish," commented one ACLU attorney.

What the ACLU appears to want to accomplish is to force Ohioans by the millions into using machines that may not handle their votes securely. That's simply unacceptable. Buckeye State residents shouldn't go along with it - and we trust the courts won't attempt to force it on them.