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Michigan will begin doing away with punch card voting, lever-operated machines and manually counted paper ballots next year and finish the job in 2006.
In the wake of the fiasco that held up the outcome of the 2000 presidential election for 36 days, Michigan and other states are moving to uniform systems.
Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land said Monday that Michigan's system of choice will be optical scanners, the method already used by two-thirds of the state's 6.8 million voters.
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Warren City Clerk Richard Sulaka said he's disappointed that the state didn't choose the more advanced touch screen voting system.
But he added, "We need to change and I'll work with what they want."
The city's 325 lever machines are at least 40 years old.
Touch screens didn't make sense, said Land, because the technology creates no paper trail.
Duh.