Hearing set in touch screen suit

By JAMES MILLER     Daytona News-Journal   July 14, 2005

 

Attorneys representing Volusia County pointed to its history of tight election races and recounts on Wednesday for their opposition to touch-screen voting machines.

Last week, the National Federation of the Blind and its Florida affiliate sued Volusia County, asking a federal judge to require it to buy 210 touch screen machines with federal grant money for municipal elections in October.

Only touch screens have been certified by the state as disability-accessible, but opponents don't like the machines because they don't use a paper ballot.

But the County Council violated no law by recently refusing to buy the machines, according to a pleading filed by attorney David Young of Akerman Senterfitt in federal court in Orlando Wednesday. Instead, county officials are investigating "options in the light of the needs and concerns of Volusia County voters both disabled and non-disabled."

The state is requiring counties to have the equipment in place for the first elections after July 1, but Volusia attorneys are disputing the deadline, saying a Jan. 1 federal requirement for disability-access applies. A hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday before Judge John Antoon II at the federal courthouse in Orlando.