Punch-card voting will become a thing of the past in Clallam County — and “touch-screen”‘ voting will be introduced in both Jefferson and Clallam counties — as part of major changes to the state’s election system.
The changes must be implemented by Jan. 1, 2006, as part of the state’s plans to comply with a new federal law passed in the wake of the chad-ridden 2000 election fiasco in Florida.
The law calls for the federal government to help pay for Clallam and 14 other counties to replace their punch-card balloting machines with optical-scan systems that “read” paper ballots.
Federal money will also help pay for at least one touch-screen voting machine at the county auditor’s offices in Jefferson and Clallam counties — and at poll sites in Jefferson — by 2006 to help blind voters.
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