County's Voting Machines Waterlogged As Election Nears

FRANKLIN, Ind. -- With a little more than four months until the November general election, officials in Johnson County are scrambling to find voting machines.

Raging floodwaters earlier this month rendered the county's electronic voting system useless, 6News' Ben Morriston reported.

Nearly 500 voting machines and about 100 printers were stored in the county government building that filled with about 5 feet of water.

"There's a company in Florida that refurbishes voting equipment and we're hoping that they might be interested in some of Johnson County's equipment," said Jill Jackson, the county clerk.

The waterlogged voting machines were put in storage while county officials await word on their fate.

Johnson County installed the high-tech voting system about five years ago. Election Systems and Software was paid nearly $2.5 million for the machines. Taxpayers still owe about $750,000 on the system.

"We want to make sure that we have replacement machines in our county, hopefully in the next month or so," Jackson said. "It usually takes your entire summer to prepare for a presidential election."

County officials said they might have to take out a short-term loan to cover the costs of getting a new voting system. They hope federal money will help them lease machines.