New voting machines expected by primary

After 16 years, the county will bid adieu to the old punch-card system

VICTORIA CHERRIE    Charlotte Observer    13 November 2005

Cabarrus County voters who cast ballots in Tuesday's municipal elections punched those paper cards for the last time.

The board of elections plans to have new machines by the May 2primary.

The current machines were becoming obsolete even before the fiasco in Florida involving the cards during the 2000 presidential election, said Linda Grist, Cabarrus elections board director.

The county has had its machines since 1989. And it's grown more difficult to find machine parts over the years.

"The board really wants to make sure that the machines chosen are easy for the precinct officials to work and for voters to use," Grist said.

The N.C. Board of Elections funds the local office and will determine what vendors the board can buy from. Once that is decided, local officials will go shopping.

They'll likely choose between one of two kinds of machines.

One type is a machine that still uses paper ballots, but they are filled out with a special pen. The other type is a computerized setup in which voters touch a screen to make their choices. The computer stores the results and prints them out on paper tape that can be used to verify results, Grist said.

The board will recommend which machines to get and demonstrate how to use them. The Cabarrus County commissioners will give final approval.

It's not known yet how much the machines will cost. The money to buy them will come from a couple of places.

The federal government gives Cabarrus County $12,000 for each of its 43 precincts. The county also has capital improvement money that will go toward the purchase, Grist said.