COLUMBUS — Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell will request $128 million from the state Controlling Board on March 8 to buy new voting machines despite calls from legislators to reject the proposal.
If the request is rejected, Blackwell's office will propose all 88 Ohio counties move to optical scan ballot systems, which have a paper record of the votes cast, said Blackwell's spokesman, Carlo LoParo.
Blackwell is pushing to bring Ohio into compliance with the Help America Vote Act, doing away with punch-card ballots in favor of computer-based voting systems.
A study, however, identified 57 security risks with the new systems being offered, and some lawmakers — notably state Sens. Jeff Jacobson, R-Butler Twp., and Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo — are asking the Controlling Board to reject the funding until questions are resolved. [Privacy Digest]