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Election Officials Say Voting Machine Changes Could Sow Voter Confusion

A new voting machine prints and tabulates paper ballots. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Guilford County officials are worried that with the pending elimination of many touch-screen voting machines, replacements may not be ready in time for the 2020 election. 

A 2013 law requires the decertification of touch-screen voting machines that use electronic ballot counting, as opposed to paper tabulation. The goal is to guard against cyber hacking. Both Guilford and Mecklenburg counties are among those that will need to make the switch.

But Guilford County officials say that with a December 1st deadline looming, there may not be enough time to get new machines in place.

The News and Observer reports that county representatives still don't know what machines they'll be allowed to buy as replacements.

Karen Brinson Bell, the new state elections director, says she understands the concern, but agrees that paper balloting will be the best way to ensure the accuracy of election results.

The State Board of Elections will meet on Thursday to consider the companies vying to provide voting machines in North Carolina.

But with a presidential election year looming, one official says giving the districts more time to replace the machines would also help to alleviate voter concern and confusion.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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