News

Grand jury praises touch-screen voting, criticizes state ban

June 13, 2004

SAN DIEGO-The county's grand jury criticized California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's decision to ban new touchscreen voting machines in November. The jury claims the decision is unsound and undermines voter confidence in the system, according to a story in the North County Times.

A grand jury report stated that the problems that marred San Diego County's first electronic election in March would not occur again.

Electronic "glitches" caused 36 percent of the county's 1,611 polling places to open late for the March 2 primary elections, disenfranchisingan unknown number of  voters.

Shelley banned San Diego and three other counties early this month from using their electronic machines, built by Ohio-based Diebold Systems Inc., in the November presidential elections.

The grand jury said Shelley acted hastily, and that the electronic glitches affected other equipment and not the touch-screen machines. Future problems could be avoided through better training of polling workers, the grand jury said.

Shelley's order to have San Diego and other counties use paper ballots in November "could actually leave the voting process more open to irregularities than going forward with touch-screens," the report said.