(STATEHOUSE) Jan. 29, 2008 - House Bill 1071, co-authored by state Rep. Jeff Thompson (R-Lizton), unanimously passed the Indiana House of Representatives today. If successful in the Senate, the bill will reimburse counties that buy new voting machines that prove unusable due to unforeseen circumstances. These reimbursements are to be funded through the use of federal money allocated to states under the Help America Vote Act. Currently, voting machine reimbursements of this type do not qualify for federal HAVA funds. Indiana now is petitioning the federal government to allow these types of reimbursements to make use of this money. Under HB 1071, affected counties will complete a federal application and, if accepted, will be first in line to receive HAVA money for reimbursement. HB 1071 was inspired by recent voting-machine problems in Boone, Cass, Parke and Randolph counties. All four counties purchased new voting machines from the same vendor but ran into considerable trouble when the vender went out of business. Suddenly, these counties lacked the support and resources they needed to get the machines up and running by election time. Consequently, these counties had to use local taxpayer dollars to buy more new machines that were functional. "Counties shop around and try to purchase the highest-quality voting machines at the best price," said Rep. Thompson. "When, due to no fault of their own, these counties are left with nearly brand new machines that are not functional, local taxpayers suffer, and that is not acceptable. This bill will make sure counties are reimbursed when this happens." Indiana is not the only state dealing with this problem, and similar legislation has passed or is pending in other states. -30- Rep. Thompson encourages constituents to contact him with questions or concerns through e-mail at h28@in.gov, by calling the Statehouse toll-free at 1-800-382-9841 or by writing him at 200 W. Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46204. |
