Looking for a gift?

Have you ever found yourself lost for a good idea for a gift for that favorite political junkie in your life? Well...you might be in luck. This is from the Associated Press:

Some Connecticut towns are in the process of selling their old lever voting machines, which are being replaced with modern, optical scan devices.

Towns in Fairfield County are among the first to receive the new machines for upcoming spring elections. Eighteen arrived in Westport on Friday. Norwalk received 28 about a month ago, the Stamford Advocate reported Monday.

Norwalk is accepting bids for its 80 lever machines through March 2. People can bid on one or more machines. Gerald Foley, the city's purchasing director, said one interested firm has inspected the lever contraptions, which have been around since the 1950s. Other people have picked up bid packages.

"There seems to be a little bit of interest," Foley said.

There have been no takers so far in Westport, where 30 voting machines are up for sale.

By November, the state's entire inventory of 3,300 lever machines will be replaced with the optical scanners in all 169 municipalities. Connecticut used $32 million in federal money to pay for the new machines to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act.