Maryland May Ditch Touch Screen Machines For Early Voting

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Maryland's top election official wants to scrap touch-screen voting machines in favor of paper ballots for early voting before the April primaries.

The Washington Post reports Elections Administrator Linda Lamone is seeking to ditch the touch-screen machines because they can't display all candidates on the same screen.

She says the format can create a disadvantage for candidates with last names that are further down the alphabet. She also says it can be confusing and time-consuming for voters to navigate between multiple pages of candidates.

Officials initially wanted to use the machines for early voting because otherwise voters would have had to use multiple ballots to cast votes in multiple judicial, city council and congressional races.

Maryland's Board of Elections has called a Thursday meeting to address the issue.

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