An effort by

Fulton County Commission Chairman Mike Kenn to speed up election reform

failed last week.

Kenn's proposal

to lease optical scan machines for 2002 was defeated by a 4-3 partisan

vote, according to Kenn spokesman Michael Harris.

"All the

Democrats voted against it," he said. The Democrats on the board

are Emma Darnell, Bill Edwards, Nancy Boxill and Karen Webster.

The Fulton

County Board of Registration and Elections recently submitted a report

to the County Commission detailing the benefits of an optical scan system.

The report

indicates the punch card voting system currently in use does have a high

incidence of spoiled and blank ballots and recommends a change to a system

that will ensure that all ballots in the county are counted.

Since it takes

at least six months to put a new system in place, the election board recommended

the county go forward with an optical scanning system that would be ready

for next year's elections. While not ruling out electronic touch screen

voting in the future, the board does have reservations about the system.

"It should

also be noted that certain members of the board remain uncomfortable with

electronic voting equipment not only because of its higher residual vote

rate, but also because of a growing digital divide that exists with minority

voters," the report read.

The report

recommends the county lease 287 optical scan voting machines at a cost

of $600,00.

But the Commission

turned down Kenn's efforts and Harris said there is a big loser in the

vote.

"The citizens

of Fulton County who have called for election reform are the losers,"

he said.

Since Kenn's

vote was defeated, he cannot bring the matter back before the board, so

Harris does not know if Fulton County will have to wait for the state

to initiate its voter reform plans.

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