Reply #7: Decatur may test a paper trail for voting

[Melissa G]

Decatur may test a paper trail for voting

Atlanta (AP)—Georgia's touch-screen voting machines would be equipped to produce a paper trail to let voters verify their votes under legislation proposed Tuesday by a Republican state senator hoping to become the state's top election official.

Sen. Bill Stephens, R-Canton, an announced candidate for Secretary of State in 2006, said he will pre-file legislation in November requiring the state to conduct a pilot test of paper printouts for voters in three counties in next year's election.

The three counties to be outfitted with printers in the 2006 test would be Cobb and Columbia, both rich in Republican votes, and Decatur, home of the current Secretary of State, Cathy Cox. Cox is a Democratic candidate who will oppose Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue next year.

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Georgia previously relied on a hodgepodge system that employed punch cards in some counties, optical scan machines in others and paper ballots in a few.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15269619&BRD=2068&PAG=461&dept_id=387472&rfi=6