Hourly Update

County votes to purchase controversial electronic voting machines

To the sound of hisses and boos from the audience, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to purchase voting equipment from Diebold Elections Systems. The county is purchasing the equipment with $2 million in federal money to comply with the Help America Vote Act, which requires that disabled voters be able to vote in private without assistance. But critics say the machines are too easy to tamper with and could open the door to election fraud. As part of the motion made by Supervisor Ramon Valadez, county election workers will do their own tests on the machines, and the supervisors will have to vote again on whether to actually use the machines in the September primary. Valadez said the supervisors were advised if they didn't comply with federal law, the county might be ordered to buy the same machines with county, rather than federal, funds. He said his motion gave the county the ability to comply with the law while preserving the option to not use the machines if the supervisors are not satisfied they are secure or if a lawsuit seeking an injunction against their use is successful. Supervisors Richard Elias and Ray Carroll voted against the purchase, saying there were too many questions about the security of the machines. Critics of electronic voting, several of whom pleaded with the supervisors not to buy the machines, hissed as the roll was called. Advocates for disabled voters were not happy either. They said the county needs to make an effort to comply with federal voting requirements for the disabled, though no machine on the market today allows all voters to vote independently. "I still don't know if we're going to have accessible voting come September," said Peri Jude Radecic, director for public advocacy for the Arizona Center for Disability Law. "The bottom line is something has to be in place, and this vote doesn't assure that."