Reply #7: Miami-Dade may scrap its paperless voting machines

[Wilms]

06/08/05

Miami-Dade may scrap its paperless voting machines

By Jack Gurney

Pelican Press

Conspiracy theories about the validity of paperless touch-screen voting machines refuse to go away, and a recent recommendation by Miami-Dade County elections officials to scrap $24.5 million worth of them could rekindle the issue in Sarasota County.

Last week, Miami Elections Supervisor Lester Sola submitted an analysis of the iVoltronic machines manufactured by Elections Systems & Software at more than 700 precincts and said they should be replaced with a simpler system that would restore voter confidence.

Miami-Dade is one of 15 Florida counties that bought ES&S equipment to correct the problems that captured national attention in the 2000 general election. Sarasota County paid $4.7 million for 1,615 of the iVoltronic machines that do not produce a paper receipt for voter verification.

If Miami-Dade follows through and replaces its touch-screen machines with paper ballots and optical scanners, it will become the first county in the United States to reverse course and go back to a system that allows voters to verify their decisions with paper receipts.

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http://www.venicegondolier.com/NewsArchive3/060805/vn3.htm