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Despite the distribution of more than $1.3 billion to 42 states to correct faulty voting machines and make other improvements for next month's presidential election, approximately 75 percent of voters will use the same machines they used four years ago, a development that worries the chairman of the federal commission overseeing balloting changes. "In one sense, by Washington standards, we have moved rather quickly when we talk about the things we've done," says DeForest B. Soaries, Jr., chairman of the bi-partisan Election Assistance Commission. "But [given] people's expectations -- and, more importantly, the need to guarantee fair elections - I think we probably have moved more slowly than need demands...I don't think enough of that has happened this year." Soaries, a Black Republican, was appointed to the post last year by President Bush. He says, "It's been a very challenging start up. I'm proud of the things that we've accomplished this year. But this year was ?04. And I think people's expectations were that more things would happen since the last election was four years ago." [more

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