By TOM STUCKEY Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The maker of Maryland's voting machines defended the system Thursday as the nation's best, a day after the governor said he had lost confidence in the state's ability to hold fair and accurate elections this year.

"Our system has been very accurate," Mark Radke, director of Diebold Election Systems, said after a closed meeting with legislators to discuss questions about the machines' susceptibility to fraud. "It's disturbing to see some of the false information that's been distributed."

State election officials nationwide "are very envious of what Maryland and Diebold have done," Radke said.

At a Senate hearing later in the day, state elections administrator Linda Lamone said Diebold touchscreen machines have been used in Maryland since 2002.

"During that time, there has been no occurrence, or even a credible claim, of fraud," she said.

The machines that will be used in every precinct for the first time in the September primary have also been attacked for lacking a paper record.

House and Senate committees are considering bills to require a verifiable paper trail for elections this year. Lamone said Thursday, though, that no equipment could be added to produce such a record.

Linda Schade _ director of TrueVoteMD, a group pressuring the legislature for a paper record in this year's elections _ said Maryland could save money by leasing optical scan machines for one year.

But the company Schade cited as a supplier has been unable to provide machines for other states, Lamone said.

Gov. Robert Ehrlich said in a letter Wednesday to the state election board that he supported a paper ballot or some kind of paper trail.