A judge denied an injunction Thursday to force state officials to adopt new voting machines. That’s after the advocacy group Common Cause sued, saying the state isn’t doing enough to meet a law requiring new machines by 2010.
Last year the state legislature overwhelmingly passed the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act. It requires every county to switch to optical scan machines that read paper ballots.
But Election Coordinator Mark Goins says it requires machines that aren’t yet certified or widely available.
Common Cause argued machines meeting an older standard qualify under the law, and sought an injunction to make the overhaul begin immediately. But Judge Russell Perkins says the law hasn’t been broken yet.
“The court would be really stepping out on a limb to order this sweeping relief when there’s been no violation, and it doesn’t appear that a violation is imminent.”
Perkins added that doesn’t excuse the state from complying with the Voter Confidence Act by next fall’s elections.
Gerard Stranch represented Common Cause in the hearing.
He says he was disappointed by the decision, but notes the court found optical-scan machines available now do qualify under the act and could be used in the next election. Stranch says he hopes the state takes that to heart by beginning the switch.
State Election Coordinator Mark Goins says the suit has stalled efforts to “seek paper ballot machines certified to the strongest standards.”
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