Florida county waves farewell to 'chads'

Palm Beach County commissioners in Florida have approved spending up to $16m (£11m) to replace punch-card voting machines with ‘‘touch-screen’’ voting on ATM-like computer monitors.

Palm Beach was one of four counties where Vice President Al Gore asked for recounts after the November 7 election.

George W Bush won the presidency after the Supreme Court halted the Florida recount, which was plagued by rows over whether cards with hanging ‘‘chads’’ were valid votes.

The touch-screen system is one of the most advanced and expensive voting systems available.