Counties shun new voting machines

01/16/04

Mark Naymik and Julie Carr Smyth - Plain Dealer Reporters

A group of Ohio's largest counties, including Cuyahoga, refused Thursday to meet a state deadline for selecting new voting machines until Secretary of State Ken Blackwell can guarantee that the machines are secure. At the same time, more than half the counties that were required to select a voting-machine maker chose the company whose security problems have gained it the most scrutiny nationally: Diebold Election Systems. The Canton-based company has landed more than $31 million in contracts statewide. The large counties protesting - including Democrat-dominated Cuyahoga, Republican-heavy Hamilton, and Montgomery - said too many security and cost-related questions remain about the new systems. Among their chief concerns: 57 separate security risks found in the machines during an independent review that Blackwell commissioned, which have not all been fixed yet; the machines' long-term costs; and whether the machines should produce a paper receipt. "Those security issues need to be worked out and the paper-trail issue needs to be clarified before we will make a decision," said Tom Coyne, chairman of Cuyahoga's elections board.

Counties shun new voting machines