Paper ballots for March primary cost $358,000

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Records show it cost $358,000 for 53 Ohio counties to provide paper ballots for the March 4 primary, and only about 1 percent of the 880,000 printed were used.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (BROO'-nur) intends to reimburse the counties, which use electronic touch-screen voting machines.

Brunner had ordered the counties to make the paper ballots available after a study she commissioned concluded that the machines were vulnerable to tampering.

Cost totals provided to the Dispatch don't include Belmont and Lorain counties, and a spokesman for Brunner says the office is still verifying data reported by the other counties.

Brunner also favors having paper ballots for the November election for voters who ask for them, and as a backup to help alleviate long lines or if some machines go down.