Ohio county may junk e-voting machines

[Sweet Freedom]

CLEVELAND - The commissioners of the state's most populous county are considering getting rid of touch-screen voting machines and putting in a new system for the presidential election in 2008.

Cuyahoga County spent $14 million on the Nov. 7 election and cannot afford to spend that much every time voters go to the polls, especially the high volume that a presidential race generates, commissioners Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora said.

"In 2008, we're going to be in a predicament," Dimora said. "Our system can't handle the number of voters."

"Even though we have a substantial amount of money in it, we're considering scrapping the whole system," Hagan said. The touch-screen machines, first used in the May primary, cost $17 million.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061129/ap_on_re_us/ohio_voting

[OzarkDem]

1. Yep, the commissioners don't like them

They're too expensive to use when there is a large turnout of voters. Its much less expensive to use optical scanning machines, where additional voting equipment can be added cheaply and quickly when voter turnout is high.

[AndyA]

2. Hell, the taxpayers ought to DEMAND the machines are boxed up, and

sent back to their manufacturer for a FULL REFUND. They didn't work as promised, they should get their money back.

[mom cat]

4. Damned Right!

While we are at it, we should box up all the legislators who sold us the HAVA bill of goods and ship them back where they belong!

[EST]

6. Ah, but they DID work as promised...

The promise was to deliver the government into the hands of liars, crooks, and destroyers.

[SoCalDem]

3. They just need to file a lawsuit to recoup the money

Obviously the machines were sold as a "safe & easy" and error-free device.

they failed to deliver..

refund time..

[eliphaslevi]

5. Storage & Maintenance costs are expensive for machines

Paper ballots are much cheaper to make, use, and maintain.

[chaska]

7. I used a diebold machine for the first time last month and....

I was struck by just how much slower it (the process of voting) was than the old punch card dealy. It's just a stupid system: you have to make double sure of everything before going to the next page because you're worried that you won't be able to correct it if you make a mistake, etc.

[chaska]

8. goshdarn dupe