Judge Gives State One Week to Solve Flawed Voting Machine "Crisis"

by: Juan Melli

Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 03:44:53 PM EDT

New Jersey has eight days to come up with plans to replace 10,000 electronic voting machines used statewide, a judge ruled today.

"This is a crisis," Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg said at a hearing in Trenton.

A state law requires electronic voting machines to be refitted by January with printers, which would ensure accuracy. But printers from three vendors were found deficient this summer in tests by the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the state Attorney General's Office told the judge today that retesting will take at least six more weeks.

"It's getting too close. You need to tell me what the alternatives are," Feinberg told Deputy Attorney General Jason Orlando. She told him to report back to her on Sept. 13, with a hearing to follow on Sept. 17.