Pa. gives 2nd chance to maker of banned voting machines
By PETER JACKSON
The Associated Press   15 April 2005

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania officials, who banned the UniLect touchscreen voting system last week, said Friday they will give the company another chance to prove the device is reliable.

If the second "re-examination" of the system, tentatively slated for April 22 in Harrisburg, satisfies the state's consultant, it could be recertified in time to be used in the May 17 primary, said State Department spokeswoman Allison Hrestak.

Unilect Corp. President Jack Gerbel personally appealed to state officials to reconsider their April 7 decision to decertify the Unilect Patriot system, which was used in three western Pennsylvania counties, Hrestak said.

Gerbel did not immediately respond to a telephone message left at the company's Dublin, Calif., headquarters.

In banning the Unilect machine, Pennsylvania officials cited a Feb. 15 re-examination in which it failed to sense finger touches and also froze up at times.

They also noted apparently large undercounts - the difference between the number of voters who cast ballots and the total votes counted - in the Nov. 2 presidential vote in Beaver, Greene and Mercer counties.

State officials also promised to pay for replacement voting systems in the three counties and to ensure that adequate federal funds are available to fully reimburse the counties if they choose to buy new systems later this year.
 

Officials have said any votes cast but not counted by the UniLect machines in November would not have changed the outcome of the election, in which Democratic nominee John Kerry carried the state.

A spokesman for one county, Greene County Commissioner Chairwoman Pam Snyder, said she was frustrated by the state's handling of the situation. She said county officials currently plan to use optical-scanning machines - leased at state expense - but have not had time to discuss whether they would use the UniLect machines if they are recertified.

"My question is, why didn't they do this in the first place?" she said.

Officials in the other two counties did not immediately return telephone messages Friday.

-