Reply #25: AZ: Voting-machine purchase issue puts county in bind [View All]

Voting-machine purchase issue puts county in bind

By Erica Meltzer
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona
06.05.2006

Pima County could be in violation of federal law — and on the hook for $2 million — if the Board of Supervisors doesn't agree to buy touch-screen voting machines from Diebold Elections Systems.

But the county could end up on the wrong side of a lawsuit filed by election activists if it does buy the machines.

The supervisors will be facing this damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't dilemma for a third time Tuesday on what could be their last chance to make a decision in time for the fall elections.

The board twice has postponed a decision on the voting machines in response to critics who say the devices can be tampered with and don't provide an adequate paper trail in case a recount is needed. In a prepared statement, Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer blasted the delay, calling it "unconscionable."


More: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/132216