The Leon County Commission had turned to Election Systems and Software Inc. (ES&S) after voting last month to replace 160 AccuVote optical scan voting machines from Diebold Election Systems Inc. because of fears that the AccuVote machines may not comply with laws on handicapped accessibility. The commission also questioned the accuracy of the Diebold machines.

ES&S had informally agreed to a US$1.8 million deal to supply its AutoMark optical scan gear to Leon County. The county had expected that the equipment would help it meet the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and Florida election laws.

All U.S. voting precincts were required by HAVA to have touch-screen or specially equipped optical-scan devices by Jan. 1, 2006. Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho said last week that he doesn't expect to face penalties as long as the county is working to get equipment.

Sancho said that he couldn't explain why Omaha-based ES&S backed out of the proposed deal, which had included agreements on price, terms and equipment.

In an e-mail statement, ES&S also offered no specific reasons for its decision. "Toward the end of last year, we were presented with the possibility of entering into a long-term relationship with the county," an ES&S spokesman said. "After a great deal of careful consideration, we made the decision [on Dec. 29] not to enter into an agreement to provide equipment and services to the county.