McKinney calls for review of voting machines

The Associated Press - DECATUR, Ga.   18 July 2005

Georgia should review its electronic voting machines to make sure they're accurate, Rep. Cynthia McKinney said Monday.

McKinney, a Democrat from DeKalb County, called a news conference to say she considers the machines made by Diebold Inc. questionable.

"This is not just road-paving equipment. This is deciding who is going to make public policy," the congresswoman said.

State elections officials dismissed McKinney's complaints, especially that the machines weren't properly tested before the 2002 elections.

"There's absolutely no credible information whatsoever that there has been any tampering," said Chris Riggall, spokesman for the Secretary of State, who oversees elections. "As a matter of fact, the accuracy level has soared and the real scandal is the antiquated system Georgia had before, which had the second-highest error rate in the country."

McKinney said she planned future news conferences where she would show more evidence of problems with electronic voting.