Voters May Use Old System in November
Patti Dushaw Earnhart

Voters in Trumbull County will likely be using the old punch card system in the November election.

The Diebold Electronic Systems planned to be used then are still undergoing federal and state recertification.

If the board didn't order punchcards by this week, they wouldn't have them for November. Rather than risk having no way to vote, they went ahead and placed the order.

If the machines are recertified quickly, the board can cancel the order. The delay comes because of snafus in Diebold's program. During the initial security review last year, 57 problems were found.

The company fixed them, but then had undergo recertification.

Trumbull County says if not November, they will almost certainly be in place by the May 2005 primary.

Five of Ohio's 88 counties are currently using electronic voting systems, including Mahoning County.