Agreement Reached on Voting Equipment

The manufacturer of touch-screen voting equipment will pay for San Diego County voters to use paper ballots through November 2006, and the county will make its first payment toward the electronic voting machines it bought last year.

County officials will also refrain from suing Diebold Election Systems Inc. as part of the agreement announced Wednesday.

The touch-screen voting machines were banned by Secretary of State Kevin Shelley last month after glitches occurred during the March primary election, including a battery failure that caused 36% of San Diego County polling stations to open late.