MD: $1.47 million for the continued use of (Touch Screen) machines

[Wilms]

Md. Election Board Seeks '09 Touch-Screen Pact

© 2008 The Associated Press

Dec. 15, 2008

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (Map, News) - The Maryland Board of Elections, seeking to ensure the availability of voting machines for 2009 municipal elections, said Monday it will ask the state Board of Public works to approve a contract for continued use of touch-screen voting machines.

Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone said the agency will ask the board - composed of the governor, the treasurer and the comptroller - on Wednesday to approve a contract worth up to $1.47 million for the continued use of machines from Allen, Texas-based Premier Election Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Diebold Inc., of North Canton, Ohio.

The request is for a six-month base contract worth about $974,000, and two three-month renewal options worth about $493,00 each, Lamone said.

The agreement would make the machines available through 2009. Maryland must switch back to paper ballots by the 2010 elections under a law passed by the 2007 General Assembly amid complaints from election-reform advocates who say the touch-screen machines don't guarantee an accurate ballot count.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1745883~Md__election_board_seeks__09_touch_screen_pact.html