The state election chief yesterday warned lawmakers not to be too hasty in requiring voting machines to have a paper trail, offering instead a short-term solution that would allow voters to use electronic machines or the older paper-based devices.

The growing cry for a paper trail to ensure the integrity of voting was one of two election reform issues aired before the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday. The other was a proposed constitutional amendment to allow early voting, which could be on the ballot next year.

Addressing the panel, state Elections Administrator Linda Lamone conceded that a paper voting record will be a part of future Maryland elections, although she still believes in the integrity of the state's current system.

"After meeting with you and other policy-makers over the past several days, it is clear that there is a consensus to take the next step towards a voter verifiable voting system," Ms. Lamone said.

"As we move forward, I want to work with you to ensure that we do not lose the advantages that we have gained - a secure, accurate and reliable system - or make mistakes that will undermine the rights of voters with disabilities or diminish usability."

Supporters of a paper trail say the current system using Diebold electronic voting machines is too susceptible to fraud. Maryland is on the hook for $33 million though 2014 for the machines, which use a touch-screen system to record votes.

Ms. Lamone has steadfastly defended the Diebold machines. She said hand counts of paper ballots are less reliable than computer counts and take longer to complete, delaying the official results of elections.

With the Baltimore mayoral election this fall and a presidential election next year, Ms. Lamone said the state is running out of time to revamp its voting system properly.

"We have learned the consequences of rushing forward with a new system," she said.

As a compromise, she proposed holding 2007 and 2008 elections with the Diebold machines and the older optic-scan readers for voters who want a paper ballot. With the scanners, voters mark their choices with a heavy pen, and the ballots are scanned into the machine.

"(The proposal) does provide an immediate and reasonable partial solution that gives a voter-verified paper record to those voters who want one," she said, adding that it would put off the estimated cost - $35 million to $60 million - of changing the way votes are recorded.

Ms. Lamone's suggestion elicited groans and head-shaking from some in the audience fighting for quicker voting changes.

She said 2010 is a more realistic deadline for implementing a new election process, since new federal election rules will be in place and election officials will have time to learn the new system.

The short-term idea met with skepticism by Del. Jon S. Cardin, D-Baltimore County, who questioned the usefulness of a system that doesn't produce a paper record for every vote.

Del. Sheila E. Hixson, D-Montgomery, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, is sponsoring the paper-trail bill. It's the same measure that passed the House of Delegates and died in the Senate last year.

This time, Ms. Hixson said, she wants to make sure the Senate has time to consider her bill. But she cautioned that it's a "work in progress."

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, D-Calvert, told reporters that paper records of some sort are certain.

"It's something that's going to occur. It's just a question of how and when," he said.

A looming budget deficit could delay the effort to upgrade voting machines.

Much less divisive is the proposal to amend the state constitution to allow early voting. Lawmakers have already approved early voting, but the state's highest court later ruled that the state constitution forbids it.

The ruling means voters would have to approve a change to the state constitution before they could vote early, as allowed in some other states. An early voting referendum question could appear on the ballot next year.

There were no opponents in House or Senate committees to the early voting idea. Mr. Miller and Gov. Martin O'Malley both support the concept.

"The core of this issue is giving citizens ... the opportunity to go to the polls early and not be limited to the Tuesday in November and Tuesday in September to participate in the election process," House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Annapolis, told the Ways and Means Committee.