August 14, 2005

"Jackson County and [Mississippi] Secretary of State Eric Clark are not seeing eye to eye on the Help American Vote Act voting machine project."

"The county wants to continue using its M100 Optical Scanner, which is less than five years old and has eight to 10 years remaining, according to election commissioner Ben Sanford. To meet handicap requirements, the county wants to use the Automark Ballot Marking Device for the Handicap.

Clark is touting, and has signed, a contract with Diebold Election Systems to provide touch-screen voting machines that include a voter-verified paper trail."

"These voting machines meet all the requirements of HAVA," said Clark.

"We are happy with what we have in Jackson County. It's easy, accessible, people understand it, easy for the poll worker and easy to program. Our system is so much faster, convenient and so much more tested. We've used it here. We're fine with it in Jackson County. It's a great system," said Circuit Clerk Joe Martin.

Martin said the Diebold system is not proven."

You can find the full story here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at August 14, 2005 02:50 PM