Aug 19 2008
Unfortunately, the news of the death of the touch-screen voting machine is probably greatly exaggerated
Deborah Hastings, in an article for the Associated Press, says that “the demise of touch-screen voting has produced a graveyard of expensive corpses.” What a fine pulp mystery cover that visual would make!
One manufacturer has reportedly offered $1 a piece to take back its ATM-like machines, writes Hastings. (I’m guessing that would be Premier, the rebranded Diebold, since they’re already making ATMs.) Some states are offering the devices for sale on eBay and craigslist. Others hope to sell their inventories to Third-World countries or salvage them for scrap. (Whoops, I guess we know what that makes you, Finland.)
A few more [counties] are holding out hope that the machines, some of which were purchased for as much as $5,000, could one day be resurrected.
“We store them very, very carefully in the hopes that someone, someday may decide that we can use them again,” said San Diego County Registrar Deborah Seiler, whose jurisdiction spent $25 million on the devices.
It’s worth mentioning that Seiler used to work for Premier, the rebranded Diebold, and she’s perfectly happy with the machines’ reliability. So that’s okay then!
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