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Vote machine firm relents, will sell to Leon County
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 15, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Diebold Election Systems said Friday it will sell voting machines to Leon County, enabling the county that includes the state capital to come into compliance with federal voting law.
The county missed a Jan. 1 deadline to meet federal requirements for having voting equipment that lets the disabled vote without help.
Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho had a deal for the equipment last year with Diebold. But the subsidiary of Diebold Inc. and the county disagreed over whether Diebold software could be used with other equipment, leading the deal to fall apart.
Sancho has also had problems finding companies willing to sell the county voting machines because of a test his office conducted last year. In it, elections office workers tried to corrupt a Diebold machine's results to show that it could be done. That was part of the problem with Diebold as well.
But on Thursday, Diebold representatives agreed to sell disabled-accessible touch screen voting devices to the county for $691,373.
Diebold spokesman David Bear said the company has sent the county an offer for a contract that tries to address concerns Diebold officials had about unauthorized "demonstrations" of machines. Bear said company officials were particularly concerned that they found out about Sancho's previous efforts in news coverage.
"Obviously we need some reassurance we're not going to be continuously reading in the newspaper about demonstrations" of Diebold machines' capabilities, Bear said Friday.
Sancho called the agreement a positive development.
The federal Help America Vote Act requires at least one voting machine in each precinct to be accessible to disabled voters in any federal election. Because touch screen machines can use voice technology to enable the blind to vote, they are often used to comply with the law.
Leon County uses a paper-based optical scan system for most of its voters.
Florida Secretary of State Sue Cobb had been working to resolve the dispute between Leon County and Diebold.
[Last modified April 15, 2006, 00:51:15]
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