The political implications of the decision could be great. Some public service careers could be greatly harmed, maybe even ended, if come 2006 there are huge lines on Election Day, miscounted votes, disputed elections or other voter-confidence-shaking mishaps.

Luckily, several committee members said Thursday, for once it's nice that Utah is at the end of the national pack on something.

Utah is one of only a handful of states that still use computer punch-card ballots — complete with hanging chads — in major elections. And so much can be learned from the experiences of other states, some of whom are on their second generation of electronic voting machines, several committee members said.

But Utah is also a high-tax, revenue-poor state. And as committee member Ray Palmer put it: "This is it. With the cost of these machines and our (limited federal) funding, when will we see this kind of money again" for voting machines?

In other words, there won't be any state or county money to purchase 3,000 or more machines if the ones this committee buys turn out badly.

Even to purchase more machines than the federal government's $20.5 million will buy, the state and/or individual counties could be looking at bonding, said Oveson.

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