Two California senators are calling for a moratorium on electronic voting, citing concerns about possible problems in the upcoming presidential election.
Sens. Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Ross Johnson, R-Fullerton, held a news conference Thursday and pointed to recent electronic voting glitches that underline the need for a change in voter systems.
"There was an alarming number of system failure, where voters were disenfranchised, that is, they were not able to either vote or cast an appropriate ballot," Perata said.
"Democracy is too important to be left to a machine, much less a machine that is a lemon. I, for one, am unwilling to accept the bland assurances from unelected, local officials that these are all minor, fixable problems," Johnson said.
Fourteen counties in California used touch-screen systems in last week's primary. Critics cited numerous glitches, including incorrect ballots in Orange County and delayed polling place hours in San Diego County.
Former Secretary of State Bill Jones believes a moratorium is an overreaction by the senators.
"Because the training is key. It's not just putting a new system in. It's training the people over and over and over again. And then it's also stepping up and giving the public confidence in these systems. If I didn't have confidence in the systems, I never would have established the first ones in Riverside County in '96," Jones said.
Just this week, Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, and Bob Graham, D-Florida, announced plans to introduce legislation calling for a paper trail to back up electronic voting throughout the country. The senators say the bill calls for every jurisdiction to have machines that produce paper records.
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