A day after some electronic voting machines malfunctioned in Hinds County, the mystery remains. “Everyone I’ve talked to is baffled,” Hinds County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Claude McInnis said Wednesday.
At Wynndale Presbyterian Church, the electronic ballot failed to include races for governor or lieutenant governor. The precinct switched to paper ballots that included all the races.
This is the first time McInnis said he has seen the problem with these machines. “On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give the machines a 7.5 to 8,” said McInnis, who also is executive vice chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party. Hinds County’s voting machines, which are about 10 years, are no longer manufactured. The company that made them, Advanced Voting Solutions, is out of business. Hinds County is the only county in Mississippi to use the system.
… Regarding Hinds County’s voting machine problems, it’s obvious “the right processes weren’t in place to catch the problem,” said Joseph Hall, a national expert in voting issues.
… Pete Perry, Hinds County GOP chairman, said the county’s voting machines are “showing their wear and tear. The question is should we buy more of these? Repair these? Or go to a different system?”
Hall said elected officials have been “willing to pay money to fill potholes, but they’re not willing to pay any money for elections. We need to either fund elections adequately or if we don’t, we can’t complain.”
Full Article: Malfunction of machines puzzling | The Clarion-Ledger |