COLUMBIA COUNTY / AUGUATA, GA - Columbia County is looking to spend $15,000 on new voting machines to help with early voting in the area.

The AccuVote-TSX voting stations are having a special inventory sale on the touch-screen voting machines. The machines are selling for $1,000, which is $1,600 less than the normal price.

Deborah Marshall, Columbia County’s Director of Elections, is pushing to purchase the new voting machines.

According to Marshall, with the rise of people taking advantage of early voting, it is necessary to purchase more voting machines to handle everyone who comes in to cast a ballot in future elections.

In the November 2008 election, 8,000 voters in Columbia County took advantage of early voting. The numbers for early voting are expected to rise in upcoming elections.

The money required for these machines would be taken out of funds set aside for poll workers. There’s $23,000 in funds, but no upcoming elections during 2009. Using that could take a financial strain off the county in anticipation of the 2009-2010 budget.

The machines need to be purchased before July 30 to take advantage of the sale price. The AccuVote machine has been used in previous elections in Georgia and in many other areas of the country.