SPRINGFIELD - The federal government has accused Illinois of misspending nearly half a million dollars on a program that aimed to upgrade voting machines.

In an order issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, auditors said the state must repay at least $457,179 in federal funds that were supposed to go toward improving the election process.

In addition to the money owed by the state, Rock Island County was found to owe more than $15,000 because of bookkeeping problems. And several other counties, including Tazewell County, were cited for lax record-keeping.

Dan White, Illinois State Board of Elections executive director, said the state is appealing a portion of the ruling and likely will not know the outcome for several weeks.

But, White said, if the state loses the appeal, it is unclear how the money would be repaid.

"We don't have that money," said White. "We don't have it in the budget."

According to the audit, the state didn't follow proper accounting methods when it received federal dollars to buy new voting equipment under the federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, which was put in place by Congress after the disputed 2000 presidential election.

The agency also alleged that the state misspent nearly $4,000 on a voting program aimed at grade school children because the money was supposed to be spent on educating people who are closer to voting age.

In a written response, White said the program might have helped parents of the children.

"We believe the benefit to the parents has a value that was sufficient enough to qualify as a HAVA expense," White stated.

White said state officials were relatively pleased that the state's program was cited in only four instances.

California, for example, was told to repay more than $3 million. Minnesota was cited for $30,000. New Jersey was hit for $64,000.

"We made a good faith effort to do what was reasonable," White said.

Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 789-0865.