PITTSBURGH — The Allegheny County Citizens Elections System Advisory Panel said the county should consider replacing touch-screen voting machines the county bought just last year.

Critics say the machines have two main problems: they don't produce a verifiable paper trail, and they are not accessible to the handicapped.

The county knew of the shortcomings when it bought the machines last year using a $12 million federal grant under the Help America Vote Act. But county elections officials said they had no choice because other machines had not been certified by state officials in time for last year's elections.

A group called the Disability Voting Coalition of Pennsylvania said the county bought sticks to help disabled people who couldn't reach the touch screens, sticks that the disabled people were supposed to hold in their mouths and use to touch the screens. But the group said the sticks weren't even distributed to polling places, among other problems.