Reply #6: Blackwell put off decision on machines

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1115717588296730.xml&coll=2

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Julie Carr Smyth
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus- Secretary of State Ken Blackwell knew for more than a month that he would impose the January voting-machine decree that sent machine vendors and county elections boards scrambling.

Yet Blackwell delayed announcing the decision, according to memos and e-mails from a lawsuit settled Monday, while he and top aides assessed its practical and political fallout.

The order, which has since been reversed, was ultimately made Jan. 12 - four weeks after Blackwell signed off on it.

It mandated that only optical-scan voting machines be used statewide; a new order issued in April allowed Diebold electronic voting machines to be used as well...