Voting machine stolen from church

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March 20, 2008

By Brian Livingston / staff writer The Meridian Star Thu Mar 20, 2008, 11:57 PM CDT

Burglars apparently broke into a local church recently and stole a TV, VCR and a county voting machine.

Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department officials confirmed the theft and said the pastor of the Prospect Presbyterian Church located at 7876 Poplar Springs Drive reported the theft at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Ann Watts, who is the chairperson for the Lauderdale County Election Commission, said the Diebold voting machine, worth about $2,900, is completely worthless to anyone else but election officials.

“The machine won’t work because the memory card was not with the machine,” Watts said Wednesday afternoon. “I want to assure voters this won't in any way impact the upcoming election process on April 1. We have plenty of machines.”

Lauderdale County Circuit Court Clerk Donna Jill Johnson said, “Based on what the sheriff's department told us, it is believed those that took the voting machine were probably young kids and thought it might be a video game console. They've probably figured out by now it won't work.”

The church location is a voting precinct.

LCSD Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun said the voting machine was due to be picked up by a county employee before the incident.

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