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25 Connecticut Cities and Counties to use Optical Scan Voting Machines

New technology will replace lever voting machines in November election

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz announced that twenty-five cities and towns will use new optical scan voting machines during this November's election. The optical scan machines will replace lever machines in those municipalities.

Optical scan voting technology, in which a voter fills out a paper ballot and then scans it into a machine for verification, is the most common form of voting technology in America today, with more than half of the counties in America voting on optical scan machines. Optical scan technology also provides a paper trail for every vote case, in compliance with state law and the federal Help America Vote Act. The state will use $15.7 million in federal funds to purchase optical scan machines and privacy booths for every municipality by 2007, and to also cover the cost of all necessary training.

The twenty-five cities and towns were chosen following a survey in which every municipality in Connecticut took part, where officials were asked if they would like to be considered for the new technology this year or wait until the 2007 elections. A total of fifty-one cities and towns expressed an interest in beginning this year, and the twenty-five were chosen from there.

"As our office considered potential new technologies, the principles of security, accessibility and reliability guided our decision-making. We chose optical scan technology because it provides a level of security needed to ensure the short-term and long-term integrity of our elections," Bysiewicz said. She will be visiting the various regions where the machines will be used to demonstrate the machine.

LHS Associates is the company chosen by the Office of the Secretary of the State in August to ultimately provide the state with 1,538 optical scan machines to replace all 3,300 lever voting machines in Connecticut by November 2007. They will provide these twenty-five towns with 253 optical scan machines and 1,167 privacy booths within in the next month.