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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (758264)	2/1/2007 2:07:31 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Florida governor wants to dump touch-screen voting Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:25pm ET29 today.reuters.com TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan 31 (Reuters) - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday said he would propose abandoning touch-screen voting machines adopted after the disputed 2000 presidential race and replacing them with devices that provide a paper record. In response to intense criticism over the 2000 race -- when a recount dispute focusing Florida's "hanging chads" and inscrutable ballots was resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court -- election supervisors in 15 counties spent millions on touch-screen technology, which itself has come under fire. The machines allow voters to cast their ballot by touching their choices on a video screen. But they provide no paper backup, a safety feature that critics say would help guard against fraud and bolster voter confidence. Crist told a group of newspaper editors he would ask the state legislature for $20 million to switch to machines with a paper backup. Ensuring the integrity of elections is the cornerstone of any democracy, he said. "It's at the very foundation of it all. You go to an ATM machine, you get some kind of a record. You go to the gas station, you get a record." Crist said. "If there's a need for a recount, it's important to have something to count." Touch-screen systems are used in 32 U.S. states, but computer scientists and critics say they are vulnerable to glitches and security holes. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, who promoted the video-screen technology after his brother George won the presidency in the 2000 recount dispute, later rejected the notion of abandoning the systems and said they were reliable. Manufacturers contend a paper trail is unneeded because the terminals make errors impossible. Under Crist's plan, money would be used to purchase optical-scanning machines that require voters to fill out paper ballots, which are then recorded. Crist said he plans to provide more details on Thursday as he rolls out his 2007 budget requests over the next few days. Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, applauded the initiative but said Crist needs to go further to ensure equal-access to the polls. "Any solution to the problems of accuracy, reliability, and recountability that have plagued electronic voting in Florida must also ensure that the right of disabled voters as well as language minorities not be negatively impacted," Simon said in a prepared statement.