Reply #6: Michigan: New voting machines may fail, clerk warns

[kpete]

New voting machines may fail, clerk warns
Jul 26, 2006
By CHARLES CRUMM
Of The Oakland Press

Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson is warning that faulty voting machines could mean delays in processing Aug. 8 primary results and possibly even delays in voting if there's a high failure rate in the machines.
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New voting equipment - required under the federal Help America Vote Act and in use countywide for the first time in the August primary - had numerous problems and a 15 percent failure rate in the smaller May election that didn't involve all county communities, Johnson said.

"Voters may see some waiting because the machines break down," Johnson said Tuesday.

In a survey after the May election, local clerks listed a variety of problems with the machines, including LED displays failing, jamming in the machines, overheating and faulty programming. Johnson also said the vendor - Omaha-based Electronic Systems & Software - hasn't provided the local support that's needed.

She said she also blames Congress for rushing to pass the legislation in 2002 after the 2000 election's "hanging chad" controversy, resulting in vendors being overwhelmed.

"The machines were built so fast and the quality control is so low that the new machines aren't as good as the ones we had 10 years ago," Johnson said Tuesday. "It's a national problem. All over the country, they're having these problems."

more at:
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/072606/loc_2006072612.shtml