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N.C. counties expected to pay more for voting machines
GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press   29 December 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. - The options for upgrading voting machines in North Carolina in time for the 2006 elections have suddenly grown narrower - but probably more confusing and expensive at the same time.

Two voting machine makers have withdrawn from the state in recent weeks, leaving only Election Systems & Software qualified to sell electronic and optical scan machines to counties.

The decisions frustrated county officials, who are worried they will have to pay millions of dollars more to buy new machines rather than upgrade old ones.

"I don't know what all is going on," said Dare County elections director Melva Garrison, who wanted to upgrade Diebold Election Systems equipment in time for a Feb. 7 countywide tax referendum.

Now, precinct workers will have to count optical scan ballots by hand. "We had made a decision. We were ahead of schedule."

The upheaval is the result of an overhaul of voting equipment rules approved by the General Assembly this year in the aftermath of an electronic voting machine error that caused 4,438 votes to be lost in Carteret County during the November 2004 election.

Starting in 2006, voting is permitted only with optical scan machines, electronic recording machines or paper ballots counted by hand. Electronic machines also will have to provide a paper receipt that could be corrected by the voter before a ballot is recorded. The law set aside $36 million in federal and state grants to help pay for machines.

Machines also have to meet minimum technical and administrative standards to ensure their security and reliability. The State Board of Elections said Dec. 1 that only Election Systems, Diebold and Sequoia Voting Systems qualified to sell their machines to counties.

The board told the roughly 90 of 100 counties with machines that don't meet the standards to decide on new voting equipment by Jan. 20. The machines need to be in place by the time early one-stop voting begins April 13 for the May 2 primary.

Otherwise, the primary could be delayed or require paper ballots statewide.

Sequoia Voting Systems temporarily quit as a voting machine vendor Dec. 7 because some of its equipment failed to meet federal standards. Diebold Elections Systems pulled out last week, worried it couldn't provide all the computer software information that a new law requires, including that of third-party vendors such as Microsoft.

Election Systems spokeswoman Jill Friedman-Wilson said Thursday her company is prepared to provide equipment to all counties if necessary.

"We're very confident that we can supply the needs of the state of North Carolina," she said.

Many of the 20 counties that have used Diebold machines wanted to stay with Diebold.

In Iredell County, election officials estimated that upgrading their 34 Diebold optical scan machine tabulators would cost less than the $336,000 in grants they expected to receive. With Diebold now out of the picture, the county will have to pay much more to buy new, qualified equipment, Iredell elections director Rebecca Galliher said.

"We have very good equipment and now we're being told we can't use it," she said. "We're pretty discouraged."

At least one county - Catawba - intends to appeal the state board ruling decertifying its machines.

The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners asked Gov. Mike Easley last week to let counties use their current machines at least through the May primary and asked for more money to buy new machines. The governor's office is considering ways to help county officials worried about meeting the deadlines, Easley spokeswoman Jill Lucas said Thursday.

"We've gotten a lot of response across the state from concerned counties and folks who generally think that having one vendor in the election machine pipeline is a bad thing for everybody," said association attorney Paul Meyer.

Having a single vendor statewide could improve machine maintenance and oversight, said Mecklenburg County elections director Michael Dickerson. But for now he said he would like more time and choices to replace the county's 1,500 MicroVote machines.

"This is the purchase that you want to be satisfied with from seven to 10 years," he said.



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