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Delegate Accuses State Official |
Howard County Times
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=573&NewsID=705800&CategoryID=742&show=localnews&om=1
Elections chief trying to undercut voter machine bill, Bobo says
03/23/06
By Luke Broadwater
Del. Elizabeth Bobo said this week that Linda Lamone, the state
administrator of elections, is trying her best to block a General
Assembly bill that would require Maryland to use voting machines that
leave a paper trail."I've held off saying this for a while," Bobo, a Columbia Democrat,
said this week. "But (Lamone) is trying anything she can to sabotage
this bill."
Lamone's deputy denied that charge this week.
Bobo's comments came in response to the State Board of Elections'
announcement last week that leasing voting machines that use paper
ballots would cost significantly more than the amount lawmakers have
budgeted for the rental.
At issue is the state's use of computerized touch-screen machines
produced by Diebold Election Systems, which Maryland used for the first
time statewide in the March 2, 2004 primary election.
Opponents of the Diebold machines, such as Bobo, say the machines have
questionable security and lack paper records that can be audited.
Lamone has defended the machines as secure, accurate and reliable.
State Board of Elections officials have pointed to a University of
Maryland-Baltimore County study that found that voters generally like
the machines.
The House of Delegates voted unanimously March 9 to abandon the Diebold machines in favor of machines that use paper ballots.
The bill would require the state to either purchase $55 million in new
machines that produce paper records, or, if that is unfeasible by the
2006 elections, to lease the same optical scanner machines the state
used before switching to the Diebold machines.
The idea to lease the old machines was Bobo's. The House bill budgets
$12.5 million to lease enough machines to cover this year's September
primary and November general elections in Maryland.
Last week, Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who supports using the optical
scanners, placed $21.8 million in his proposed fiscal year 2007 budget
to rent the machines, said Henry P. Fawell, a spokesman for Ehrlich.
But Lamone countered that Election Systems & Software, the company
that manufactures the optical scan machines, said it would cost
Maryland $39 million to rent the 6,000 machines elections officials say
they need to cover the elections.
The Board of Elections said it requested from the company cost
estimates for leasing 2,000 standard optical scanners and 4,000
machines especially equipped for the disabled, called AutoMARK machines.
However, a spokesman for Election Systems & Software said company
officials told the board that the state probably would need only half
the number of AutoMARK machines it requested.
A "reasonable approach" would be 1,900 AutoMARKs and 1,900
optical-scanners, company spokesman Ken Fields said. "Four thousand
would be not necessary."
Cost, numbers in dispute
Bobo said Lamone intentionally asked for too many of the machines in order to jack up the price.
Since the state needs fewer machines than Lamone requested, the cost of
leasing them likely will be within the governor's budgeted limit, she
added.
"This should not be a problem," Bobo said, adding that even if the
projected cost exceeds what the House bill budgets for the lease, that
cost is still significantly less than the $55 million it would cost to
buy new machines.
Ross Goldstein, the elections board deputy administrator, said the
agency stands by its $39 million estimate. The board asked for 4,000
AutoMARK machines to ensure that it had backups if some broke down, he
said, adding that Lamone was not attempting to raise the price by
ordering the machines. He called the controversy over the price "a
difference of opinion."
AutoMARK machines are touch-screen devices that mark paper ballots
after they are inserted. They provide headphones for the
vision-impaired and other devices to aid the disabled.
Capital News Service contributed to this article.
E-mail Luke Broadwater at Luke Broadwater@patuxent.com |
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