5 counties can use electronic voting

California's secretary of state will let five counties use their electronic voting machines in the February primary election despite her assertion that the machines were sold without proper certification.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen is suing the manufacturer, Nebraska-based Election System & Software Inc., for selling the machines to Colusa, Marin, Merced, San Francisco and Solano counties.

But Bowen says those counties can use the equipment for the Feb. 5 presidential primary if they take safeguards to make sure votes are properly counted.