Sheriff's woes, electronic voting, pests included in county budget

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer
(North County Times) Last modified Monday, May 21, 2007 12:02 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO -- The Sheriff's Department is still having a hard time finding new deputies. Construction has dried up in the unincorporated areas of the county. A freeze has been lifted for local prosecutors. Electronic voting appears to be here to stay. And destructive insects could have a tougher time getting into San Diego County in the coming year.

Methinks Gig has a sense of humor to mention electronic voting and in the next sentence, bugs.

But wait, there's more humor here:

...More electronic voting machines

Also likely to get an increase is the county's fund for voting machines.

Electronic voting machines have stirred some controversy with a minority of election watchers. But the San Diego County registrar of voters office is expecting its budget to jump from $15.53 million to $25.26 million, in part because the county intends to buy more electronic voting machines.

The county agreed to buy 10,200 Diebold TSX "touch screen" voting machines for $31 million in 2003, and used those machines in November's elections...