A South Florida county in the epicenter of the recent recount controversy bought coloring books with money meant for voting machines, according to a report.

Palm Beach County also spent nearly $1 million on iPads for voter check-in stations in addition to the $48,000 spent on coloring books, reported Real Clear Investigations.

The money, provided by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), was intended to keep elections running smoothly and to prevent the controversy which just transpired in South Florida.

“The same machines officials are blaming for delays in the recount of the Nov. 6 election were also blamed for problems in 2008 and 2012,” Real Clear Investigations stated.

Interestingly, a spokesperson for the voting machine company said her firm “shipped motors to Palm Beach County the weekend before the machines were to be used for the recount, knowing that this was going to be a highly unusual situation and there would be stress far beyond normal usage. Those motors are still in their boxes.”

She also said claims that the voting machines overheated are false.

“There were no reports of overheating machines during the recount,” the spokesperson continued. “We had engineers on the ground there, available 24/7, and they heard nothing from anyone at Palm Beach County.”

Florida was also one of seven states that did not explain how it intended to spend its HAVA funding.

HAVA was drafted in response to the 2000 Florida election recount and mandated that all states and local governments polish their election procedures, which includes standards for voting machine maintenance and ballot worker training.

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