'Paper trail' of votes omitted

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A request that Maryland's new touch-screen voting network include printouts might have come too late because state officials already have signed a $55.6 million contract that includes no such backup system.

"That was not part of the contract price we negotiated with Maryland," said Mark Radke, director of marketing for Diebold Election Systems Inc., a Diebold subsidiary. "The voter verification [paper trail] was not discussed."

The push toward electronic voting has been fueled by Congress' Help America Vote Act of 2002, which provided $2.5 billion to help states improve voting technology. The act was passed after the 2002 presidential election -- the results of which were delayed after problems in Florida involving a voting system that included punch cards.

Critics want the new machines to produce paper receipts of each vote cast in case equipment fails. Their demand has been fueled by a Johns Hopkins University study over the summer that found hackers could cast multiple votes for one candidate.

"Other vendors are moving to address concerns for a paper trail, but Diebold seems to be doing a corporate gloss-over," said Linda Schade, director of Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland.

State election officials say they're trying to negotiate with Diebold to get machines upgraded, but also say they do not know yet how much the improvements would cost taxpayers.

"We've sent [Diebold] an e-mail asking how much that will cost," said Joseph Torre, the Maryland State Board of Elections' director of voting systems and contract procurement.

Mr. Torre said state officials never asked for the printout technology because "there are no standards on it."