States throw out costly voting machines

San Diego's Seiler said she was forced to shrink-wrap 10,200 machines after Secretary of State Debra Bowen banned the devices, saying they were susceptible to fraud.

Seiler disagreed. Like many local election officials, she likes the system just fine. She also is a former employee of the system's manufacturer.

"There has been no evidence of any tampering on these machines," she said. "It was all based on a probability."

Leading makers of voting machines have made similar statements and blame poorly trained poll workers and human error for most glitches.

Printing ballots is costly
Unlike most of her colleagues, Seiler does not have to spend any of her budget on printing paper ballots. The county's vendor — Premier Elections Solutions Inc., which changed its name from Diebold Election Systems following years of controversy over the reliability of its machines — bears those extra costs.

"I think we're the only county in the country that has that contract stipulation," Seiler said.

Kari Verjil, elections director for sprawling San Bernardino County, north of San Diego, is not so lucky.

"We're paying for the printed ballots," she said. "It's coming out of my budget."

In 2006, using electronic machines, the statewide primary cost her county $2.5 million. In 2008, using paper ballots cost $3.4 million.

"I have a huge inventory of machines that I am not able to use," she complained. "They are just sitting in our warehouse basically useless." Stacked to floor to ceiling are 4,000 machines purchased at $3,500 each. Total cost of that system: $16 million.

What will she do with them?

"It's a little difficult," she replied. "Who wants to buy a system that has been decertified? Especially when other states are following suit?"

Recycle the machines?
Five months ago, Florida began unloading nearly 30,000 touch-screen machines to a recycling company, which will strip, crush or try to sell the devices to other countries and states. The recycling company earns part of all sales.

Ohio can't do anything about selling its $138 million system until lawsuits filed by the manufacturer and the secretary of state get sorted out.

The legal battle follows a string of problems dating to 2004, when malfunctioning machines led to hours-long lines at the polls. Days passed before votes were tallied.

Company management claims that election problems were caused by human error and complications from an antivirus software system.

And so in November, most of the state will still be using e-voting machines.

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