Reply #30: TX: State Affairs Committee Hears Testimony on Electronic Voting Machines [View All]

( Air Date: 6/27/2006 )

Federally mandated electronic voting machines lead to increased costs and voting irregularities, local officials said at a meeting of the Senate State Affairs committee Tuesday. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA), passed in 2002 by the federal government, requires the use of voting machines in elections involving federal ballots, and recent state legislation has extended this statute to all local and state elections.

County clerks and election officials from across Texas testified about the issues that their regions have faced as a result of new voting standards. Witnesses reported delays in getting machines from vendors, programming errors and bugs that lead to ballots being rendered useless, and at least one case in which a candidate`s party affiliation was changed by the machines. Similar cases occurred in Jefferson County during two recent elections.


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