08/20/03

Columbus - Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has called off his plan to deploy new voting machines statewide by the 2004 primary election, saying the state will have neither the time nor the money to get the complete job done.

Blackwell said he still hopes that a number of Ohio counties, potentially including Cuyahoga, can have new machines in place for the March election.

And he said all of Ohio's punch-card counties could still be converted by Nov. 2, 2004 - the deadline set in federal legislation.

"Simply put, we're not going to have all the money that we'll need for full implementation by the end of October," Blackwell said.

The pricetag for Ohio's conversion has been estimated at between $150 million and $161 million, and Blackwell said he now anticipates that only $75 million will have arrived by October. That is the month when county boards of elections order supplies, including punch cards, for the upcoming primary.

Blackwell said a security review of new machines that he ordered late last week is also a factor in the change of plans. A federal commission charged with setting national technology and security standards for America's new voting machines has not yet been created, he said, and Ohio may be hamstrung until that body is operational.

Blackwell acknowledged that his critics have said he was rushing the process, and those attacks became louder recently after fears arose that some machines vying for Ohio business lacked federal certification or were vulnerable to hackers.

"There are those who say we're dragging our feet, and those who say we're rushing," he said. "We'll play Goldilocks here, and be just right."

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