Reply #10: New voting machines purchased for county voters- VA [View All]

[Melissa G]

New voting machines purchased for county voters



Voters in Wise County will be using new voting machines at all of the county's 12 polling locations in November.
Wise County Registrar Tom Chester has received federal money for 40 touch screen voting machines from the Help America Vote Act, which made federal money available to states to replace older voting machines.

The machines, manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems, cost $3,525 each. Thirteen of the new machines are audio enabled for blind voters.

When voters use the machines, they will touch the screen to choose their candidate's name, rather than pull a lever or submit a ballot. Chester feels the older mechanical lever machines were accurate and easy to understand, but the county had to accept the offer to upgrade.


"The money was made available and if you didn't take advantage of it, it would not be there forever," he said in a Friday interview. "We had only until 2006 to decide. After that, the locality would be responsible for it. Basically, Wise County is getting all new voting machines at no cost to the county."

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1283&dept_id=158551&newsid=14729363&PAG=461&rfi=9