Mississippi signs contract for new voting machines

EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS   Associated Press    29 June 2005

JACKSON, Miss. - Most Mississippi counties need to replace outdated voting machines by next January to comply with a federal law, and Secretary of State Eric Clark says he's optimistic the change will make elections more efficient.

Clark said Wednesday that he and the director of the state Department of Information Technology Services signed a contract this week with Diebold Election Systems Inc. for a mass purchase of electronic touch-screen machines.

Diebold won the contract after a lengthy committee process that included hands-on testing of machines from several companies. Clark said Diebold also offered the lowest bid.

The company makes more than 90 percent of the automated teller machines in Mississippi, he said.

"I'm sure if Diebold can keep up with my money, they can keep up with my vote," Clark said.

The federal government is paying 95 percent and the state is paying 5 percent of the $15 million tab to buy new machines and to provide training and technical support.

The cost covers 5,164 machines - enough to have one machine for about every 190 voters in the state.

New voting machines are required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, a federal law intended to eliminate some of the election snafus that plagued Florida in the tight 2000 presidential election.

Only six Mississippi counties have voting machines that already meet standards of the federal law - DeSoto, Hinds, Jackson, Lowndes, Noxubee and Rankin. The other 76 counties must replace their machines by January.

Officials in the 76 counties can either be part of the state's mass purchase of Diebold machines, or they can sign contracts with other vendors.

Either way, the machines would still be paid for by state and federal money. But, officials in the secretary of state's office said counties will get the best deal by being part of the mass purchase from the state - something Clark called "the Wal-Mart effect of buying in bulk."

Officials in Clark's office said the six counties with voting machines that already comply with the Help America Vote Act could be reimbursed for part of what they've already spent.

The federal law says every precinct in the state must have at least one handicapped-accessible voting machine by next January. The Diebold machines can be used by people in wheelchairs, and are equipped with audio instructions and headphones for blind people to vote without assistance.

"I think this is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to the blind community when it comes to voting independently," said Ken Loden of Tupelo, who is blind.

The Mississippi machines will be programmed to let voters choose between two languages - English or Choctaw. Diebold officials said other languages, such as Spanish or Vietnamese, could be added.