Request Part of Supplemental Budget

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) is seeking $21.8 million to change voting machines for the coming election as part of a $400 million supplemental budget he submitted yesterday to the General Assembly.

"How in the heck are we going to do this in six months and not drop the ball?'' said board Chairman Gilles W. Burger, explaining the board's decision. "We know what it takes, and we do not want to jeopardize the ability to conduct a successful election."

The election board, after a private meeting Wednesday, did embrace the governor's call for two new security tests of the touch-screen machines, which critics contend are vulnerable to hacking that could affect the outcome of elections.

Last week, the House unanimously passed legislation to lease optical-scan machines for one year, and the governor asked the board to join him in backing that approach. The decision by the election board adds uncertainty about how Maryland voters will cast ballots this year.

"I don't think it's a setback," Ehrlich's policy director, Joseph M. Getty, said of the decision by the five-member panel, which includes four Ehrlich appointees. "They recognize the shortcomings with the equipment. The governor's position is whatever is worked out needs to have a paper trail."

Since 2002, Maryland has invested $90 million in a statewide system of touch-screen machines manufactured by Diebold Elections Systems. State Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone has defended it as the most accurate in the country. But questions about the security of Diebold machines in California and other states have renewed calls to revisit Maryland's system, which uses similar technology.

Mark Radke, Diebold's director of marketing, said of the board's plan for new tests, "We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate once again that Maryland has the most accurate and most secure system."

The sponsor of the optical-scan legislation, Del. Sheila E. Hixson (D-Montgomery), estimated a cost of at least $13 million to lease a paper system. But the election board reviewed a proposal Wednesday from a company called Elections Systems & Software to lease 6,000 machines to the state for $39 million.

Senators appear headed in a different direction. In a preliminary review of the governor's supplemental spending plan yesterday, budget writers said money for a new system should be tied to other legislation and redirected most of the $21.8 million to an electronic voter registry to guard against fraud in early voting.

Senators have talked with Diebold officials about using a small number of touch-screen machines that provide a paper receipt. Radke has discussed with senators a limited pilot program that he estimated would cost $50,000. That approach, however, would not satisfy Ehrlich or paper trail advocates who consider it a "band-aid."

The Senate is poised today to approve its $29 billion spending plan for fiscal 2007, in addition to a revised supplemental budget. The House plans to debate its version of the budget next week.

Ehrlich's $433 million plan also would allow the state to hire 160 more prison guards, freeze tuition for undergraduate students at public colleges and universities, increase monthly payments for foster families and help low-income households cope with rising energy costs.

It includes $10 million for a University of Maryland Journalism School building, $1.25 million for maintenance and repairs to the State House and $65,000 to defray travel costs for the Morgan State University choir's concerts in Prague.