Fort Bend County commissioners sealed the deal Tuesday for the purchase of 780 electronic voting machines from Hart InterCivic of Austin.
The machines cost $2.5 million, and the county will contribute $600,000 toward them, said Elections Administrator Steve Raborn. The remainder of the money was allocated for the county by the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
The electronic machines have drawn opposition because they are not capable of generating a paper audit to insure their vote tallies are correct.
Raborn said he believes the machines will be safe and accurate, and they will reduce voter error while ensuring faster tabulation of election results.
Ironically, Hart InterCivic is about to release a version of its e-voting machines that it advertises will create a paper audit trail.
Fort Bend County officials hope to implement the machines for the November 2005 election, when several state constitutional amendments will be on the ballot.
