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$500,000 Worth Of Electronic Voting Machines Sit Idle

Tuesday: September 02, 2008

(Pacific Daily News)

Electronic voting machines that were acquired with $500,000 in federal funds will not be used in this year’s Guam elections because there isn’t enough trained staff, the Pacific Daily News reports.

The 100 electronic voting machines were acquired many years ago by the Guam Election Commission, but there have been numerous problems with them because staff did not prepare or operate them correctly. Guam will hold its primary election on Saturday and the general election in November.

“We have a lot of voters who prefer to have the paper ballots, but at the same time we did purchase the machines with federal funds. There is an obligation on the Guam Election Commission's part to actually implement the use of those electronic machines,” said commission Executive Director John Blas.

Guam legislators in 2007 passed a law prohibiting the use of the electronic voting machines until certain conditions are met, including a public education campaign on how to use the devices.

http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080902/NEWS01/809020304/1002