Voting paper trail option offered

The state election chief yesterday warned lawmakers not to be too hasty in requiring voting machines to have a paper trail, offering instead a short-term solution that would allow voters to use electronic machines or the older paper-based devices.

The growing cry for a paper trail to ensure the integrity of voting was one of two election reform issues aired before the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday. The other was a proposed constitutional amendment to allow early voting, which could be on the ballot next year.

Addressing the panel, state Elections Administrator Linda Lamone conceded that a paper voting record will be...