County to Buy Touch Screen Voting Machines

County supervisors have agreed to spend $30 million to buy 10,200 computerized, touch screen voting machines.

County election officers said that the new touch-screen system, created by Ohio-based Diebold Systems Inc., is secure and more accurate than the old punch-card ballot system it is scheduled to replace in March. The machines have been certified by the state’s chief elections officer, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.

But a dozen speakers at Tuesday’s board meeting said they didn’t trust electronic voting machines in general, especially when they do not offer voters “paper trails,” printouts of their ballots that give voters tangible proof of how they voted.