Sixty-five counties to take part in state voting machine buy

Associated Press    17 August 2005

JACKSON, Miss. - Secretary of State Eric Clark says 65 counties have signed up to use new touch-screen voting machines that will be made available by the state in 2006.

The federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, requires all outdated voting machines to be replaced nationwide by January. In Mississippi, Clark said only seven of the 82 counties already have voting machines that comply with HAVA standards.

Clark has been traveling the state since June trying to persuade county supervisors to be part of a bulk purchase of machines from Diebold Election Systems Inc.

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.

"I'm delighted that most Mississippi counties have already decided to use these more accurate touch-screen voting machines which allow all voters to verify their choices on a paper ballot," Clark said Wednesday. "I hope the remaining counties will choose to be part of the statewide purchase."

Supervisors around the state face a Friday deadline to decide whether to take part in the state's contract with Diebold, and a few counties have opted out of the bulk purchase.

This is the first time in history that state and federal money has been available to buy voting machines in Mississippi. Counties have always borne that expense - and supervisors in some counties now are saying they don't know they'll find money to buy enough machines to go in all precincts to meet the federal mandate.

Counties that don't participate in the bulk purchase will receive money to buy new machines from other vendors. The reimbursement rate will be determined after the secretary of state's office knows how many machines will be bought from Diebold.

The Diebold machines originally were not supposed to have printers, and some critics said they worried about the lack of a paper trail to show whether votes are recorded accurately. Last week, Clark negotiated a deal with Diebold to buy a printer for each machine.