Lee County buys new, used voting machines

11/22/2005 BY SANDI P. BEASON    Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

TUPELO - Lee County voters will see new machines and equipment when they go to the polls in June.

The Board of Supervisors on Monday voted to buy vote-scanning machines for each precinct, including touch-screen versions for the handicapped.

The three-phase move will put the county in line with two federal mandates: the Help America Vote Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The largest purchase was for 43 touch-screen machines - one for each of the 42 precincts and one extra - at $5,000 each. Those machines are handicapped-accessible.

Buying used machines

Supervisors also voted to buy 28 used machines, along with ballot boxes and other equipment, that Lowndes County had for sale. The $56,000 price tag was $85,000-$90,000 less than what the county would have paid for new machines, County Administrator Ronnie Bell said.

The third part of the purchase was for up to 14 new machines and other equipment, for a maximum $79,650. Bell said the county may have to finance and pay for the machines over the five years.

Earlier this year, Lee County opted out of a program backed by the secretary of state to buy Diebold brand machines because "it was evident that the scanning machines had worked well in the county," Bell said.

The machines bought from Lowndes County and the new models are newer versions of the scanner-type voting machines Lee County has used since the early 1990s.