Company that courted election chief wins voting system bid

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A voting equipment vendor that courted an election official in South Carolina has been awarded a $51 million contract from state leaders to implement a new voting system.

The State reports Election Systems and Software won the bid Monday.

The company spent nearly $20,000 covering expenses for South Carolina Election Commission Executive Director Marci Andino over the course of a decade. Andino cleared her role on the vendor’s advisory board with the state’s ethics office, and quit the position before the state put out bids for the new voting system.

The company says the new machines will allow voters to fill out their ballot on a touchscreen. Then, the machine will print a paper ballot which the voter will place into a scanner providing a paper trail of every vote.

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Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com