TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Optical-Scan Voting Gear Arrives

Pasco Supervisor of Elections photo

PASCO COUNTY’S NEWLY ARRIVED optical-scanning voting equipment is being stored in a warehouse in Dade City. The equipment will get its first use in 2008 Pasco municipal elections, according to Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: October 3, 2007

DADE CITY, Fla. - DADE CITY, Fla. - Pasco County's optical-scanning voting equipment has arrived.

"They're still in the boxes," Pasco Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said minutes ago about the optical scanners.

The 175 units will be stored for now at a warehouse here.

The first test of the new voting system will come during municipal elections in April 2008, Corley said. The touch-screen equipment will be used during the January 2008 presidential primary election, he said.

The Legislature ordered all 67 Florida counties to adopt optical-scan voting after concerns were raised about the security and accuracy of the touch-screen technology. Pasco and many other Florida counties adopted touch-screen systems following the controversy surrounding the performance of punch-card balloting equipment during the 2000 election.

Each optical scanner costs the county $5,775, a price negotiated by Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, Corley's predecessor as Pasco elections supervisor.

The county ordered 175 scanners. The state helped pay for 160 units for Pasco's 153 precincts and seven early-voting sites. "We needed extras," Corley said, in case of malfunctions, so the county ordered 15 extra units.

For more on this story read the Oct. 6 West Pasco print edition of The Suncoast News.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT