SACRAMENTO--A California Voting Systems and Procedures Panel recommended Thursday that 15,000 electronic voting machines in four counties be banned in the November election due to the findings that glitches in some devices turned voters away from the polls in the March primary election.

The same panel will meet again on April 28, to make a recommendation on whether to ban the use of electronic voting machines in the 10 other counties that use them. Nearly half the state's voters used some type of electronic voting device in March.

A story on the San Francisco Chronicle's Web site, explained that the action against Diebold Elections Systems is the first of its kind in California, and a spokesman for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said he was unaware of any other state taking such action.

The eight-member panel claimed that Diebold's newest model of touch-screen voting machine -- the TSx -- was prone to problems. They also accused Diebold of failing to have the devices federally approved in time for the March election.

The machines were used in Solano, San Joaquin, Kern and San Diego counties, where malfunctions meant some voters could not cast ballots.. In the March election, 158 of 763 encoders used to activate Alameda's touch-screen machines failed in some manner, affecting 20 percent of the county's voting sites. But, unlike in San Diego County, Alameda County officials had paper ballots available in polling places in case of such glitches.

Solano, Kern and San Joaquin counties experienced no trouble with the machines in the March election

Though today's only affects four counties, the action against Diebold is likely to have reverberations throughout the country as states struggle to move away from the type of paper ballots that caused problems in the 2000 presidential election. In addition, the reliability of touch-screen voting also is being examined nationally by the federal Election Assistance Commission which will begin hearings next month.

The panel's action came on the second day of hearings in which supporters of touch-screen systems said they made voting easier for the handicapped and limited-English speakers. Critics, however, said the machines should not be used because they are not yet equipped to provide voter verified receipts.

In a company press release Diebold stated that the California recommendation has no effect on the certification status of DES hardware, software and firmware elsewhere in California or in other states or jurisdictions throughout the country.

"While we realized the need for enhancements and are committed to making the necessary changes to the equipment used in the March election, we strongly disagree with the extent and tone of the panel's recommendation. This is especially disconcerting in light of the fact that the state's own independent monitoring of the March 2 election reflected that all Diebold touch screen systems that were tested, accurately recorded the votes as cast," said Robert Urosevich, president of Diebold Election Systems, Inc.

"Diebold Election Systems ran successful elections in Solano, Kern and San Joaquin counties in March and has mitigated the non-touch screen related card encoding issues that impacted the March election in San Diego County."

DES intends to respond, in writing, to the panel's invitation to correct any inaccuracies and false allegations in the staff report before Secretary Shelley acts upon the recommendation.
The California decision does not impact the previously provided 2004 revenue guidance of $80 to $95 million for election systems by Diebold, Incorporated.