Volusia to revisit voting debate by July

By JAMES MILLER     Volusia and Flagler News-Journal   June 17, 2005

Despite strong words from the county's legal adviser, the Volusia County Council stopped short of setting a date to revisit its touch-screen voting controversy Thursday.

After heated discussion, County Chairman Frank Bruno halted the council's meeting in DeLand and said he would consider another meeting before July 1.

"I'm going to sit down with staff and see what we're going to get accomplished," Bruno said.

County Attorney Dan Eckert asked for the meeting to try to head off a lawsuit.

By state law, counties must have voting equipment accessible by the disabled for the first election after July 1, but only touch-screen machines have been approved. Recently, the council rejected those machines because they do not use paper ballots.

Eckert said Jim Dickson, a representative of the American Association of People with Disabilities, told the county Thursday the group will sue if the situation isn't resolved. He said Dickson and a voting technology researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology want to participate in a meeting by telephone or in person.