Local election officials might be interested to note that 80.65%of respondents to a Daily Leader Internet poll voiced theirapproval for a change from the current scanned ballots to votingmachines.

As we pointed out following the problems of the general electionon November 5, something needed to be done. In too many electionsin recent years the current equipment has had problems — fromheavy moisture in the air that affects how well the ballots areprocessed, to out and out equipment failure.

Following the presidential election problems in Florida twoyears ago, Congress passed legislation that makes $3.9 billionavailable for states to upgrade voting equipment. The estimatedcost of replacing the current equipment used in Lincoln County withtouch screen computer machines similar to those used in HindsCounty is quite affordable, especially if federal grants will helppay the bill.

We urge the election commissioners to look into the possibilityof upgrading to the newer more efficient voting machinetechnology.