Delay choosing company to replace Louisiana voting machines

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ Louisiana will take longer than expected to pick the company to replace the state's decade-old voting machines.
  
In May, the Secretary of State's Office said a winner bidder was expected to be chosen this month. But the agency said Thursday that timeline has been pushed back.
  
No new date has been set for a selection.
  
Three companies have put in bids for the work: Dominion Voting Systems, Election Systems and Software and Hart InterCivic.
  
Secretary of State's Office spokeswoman Meg Casper Sunstrom didn't give a reason for the delay. She says such contract bids are ``often highly competitive, and it is not unusual for them to stop and start during the process so that questions can be answered.''
  
The agency wants to phase in the new equipment by 2020.