The state Election Reform Commission approved a proposal Tuesday that would allow counties to continue using electronic voting machines until 2013, but then switch to paper ballots.

The recommendation, which will be submitted to the legislature, was developed as a compromise between election officials who want to keep their voting machines and activists who sued the state in 2006 to block e-voting and have threatened to go to court again.

The commission voted 8-3 to approve the proposal and submit it with a dozen others to the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

Certification of e-voting equipment was the most pressing issue before the panel because a law that expires July 1 would leave scores of voting machines decertified later this year.

The legislature is expected pass a bill this session on e-voting certification that will be based, in part, on the commission's recommendations.

Commission Chairman Ken Gordon, former Senate majority leader and a Denver Democrat, said the proposal helps both sides: It gives counties more time to use their machines and not have to spend money on other equipment, but also mandates a paper ballot system in four years to satisfy e-voting opponents.

The proposal drew fire, however, from some county clerks.

Mesa County Clerk Janice Rich said voters trust e-voting. She called paper ballot voting with precinct-based reporting requirements "a logistical and budgetary nightmare."

Commissioner Scott Gessler voted no on the plan, saying it "gives us the worst of all worlds."

"The evidence that we've seen is that electronic voting machines work in Colorado," said the Republican lawyer. "Paper ballots have deficiencies as well as electronic voting machines . . . I think that one size cannot fit all here."

Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, said she wants the legislature to find a way to instill public confidence in e-voting if it approves the commission's proposal. She said lawmakers face a tough road in drafting bills on these issues.

The commission consists of five Republicans, five Democrats and one unaffiliated voter. It was formed as a result of a state law passed last year.

The panel also approved recommendations to redesign voter registration forms to make them less confusing, to allow county clerks to cancel a primary election when no races are contested, and to allow county clerks to conduct primary elections with mail ballots.