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County Democrats say early votes miscounted
Court hearing delayed as meeting planned on touch-screen problem; GOP criticizes filing
10/23/2002
Dallas County Democrats asked a state district court judge to shut down
early voting Tuesday because some touch-screen ballot machines hadn't
accurately recorded votes.
But Democratic leaders opted later to delay a court hearing, agreeing to
meet Wednesday with county elections officials and representatives of
the Nebraska-based ballot machine manufacturer for an explanation.
The Democrats said they received several dozen complaints Monday and
Tuesday from people who said that they selected a Democratic candidate
but that their vote appeared beside the name of a Republican on the
screen. They also said some votes cast for Republicans were counted for
Democrats.
Problems were reported in seven or eight of the 24 early voting
locations, and 18 machines were taken out of service, said Bruce
Sherbet, county elections administrator. Affected races included the
hotly contested U.S. Senate race between Republican John Cornyn and
Democrat Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor.
Democratic officials said they didn't know how many votes might have
been inaccurately recorded. No problems were reported in other counties.
"We don't know if we lost 10 votes, 100 votes, 1,000 or 10,000," said
Susan Hays, chairwoman of the Dallas County Democratic Party.
Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Nate Crain called the Democrats'
court filing "a blatant attempt to stop people from exercising their
right to vote early."
Early voting began Monday, and more than 16,000 Dallas County voters had
cast ballots, county officials said. Early voting ends Nov. 1, and
Election Day is Nov. 5.
More than 400 electronic ballot machines – introduced to Dallas County
in 1998 – are used at polling places. If a voter reported a problem on a
machine, he or she was directed to another machine at the same location,
and the vote was properly recorded, Mr. Sherbet said.
He said he would be surprised if any votes were lost or assigned to an
unintended candidate. It should have been obvious to voters if their
vote did not register by the candidate they intended, and voters could
have sought assistance from a poll worker, Mr. Sherbet said.
Jostling causes problem
Readjusting and properly aligning the machine's mechanisms, he said, is
a quick, simple process for a county elections employee who has been
trained by the manufacturer.
The touch-screen machines – made by Election Systems & Software – have
been used in more than 90 Dallas County elections in the past four years
and have an outstanding record overall, Mr. Sherbet said.
"Any touch-screen system – from a voting machine to a Palm Pilot to an
ATM – can have calibration issues," he said. "We want to address every
concern."
For early voting only
County officials have said they would prefer to use touch screens on
Election Day, too, but the cost of buying enough machines is prohibitive.
Ms. Hays said it appears that the problem was with the voting equipment,
not county elections personnel.
"This is a vendor's problem," she said. "They need to prove to us that
voters' votes are being cast as they want."
Last year, the outcomes of 18 suburban Dallas County elections remained
unclear days after the election because of vote-counting problems. About
5,000 of nearly 18,000 ballots cast during the early voting period were
not properly assigned to candidates.
Computer problems were caused when a candidate was added after early
voting had started. The county faulted ESS officials for not recognizing
that the addition could cause problems.
Mike Limas, chief operating officer of ESS, defended the voting system
Tuesday.
"We're continuing to work with the county to see if we can validate
what's being discussed and resolve it," Mr. Limas said. "This really
doesn't happen very often, although obviously it's very serious to
someone who feels that their vote is not being accurately counted."
ESS says it is the world's largest manufacturer of voting equipment. The
company says it has handled more than 40,000 elections representing more
than 100 million ballots. It contracts with 1,700 jurisdictions in 49
states, Canada and other countries.Some county Republican leaders said
Tuesday that Democrats were exaggerating the extent of the voting
problems for political gain.
Dallas County Commissioner Jim Jackson said it would be "a travesty" to
shut down early voting based on the temporary restraining order request
filed late Tuesday by Democratic leaders to try to halt the election.
"This is a partisan effort to disrupt the election because they are
losing," said Mr. Jackson, a longtime Republican.The petition for a
temporary restraining order said that "widespread" problems occurred in
at least 11 early voting locations. A hearing before state District
Judge Mary Murphy began Tuesday before the delay.
Some voters who wanted to vote a straight Democratic Party ticket
instead had votes assigned to all Republican candidates, the court
filing says.
'Gross violation'
Voter Kate Kettles told The Associated Press that she tried to vote for
all Democratic candidates but that the computer highlighted Republicans
all the way down the ballot. She said that an election official moved
her to another machine but that it took several tries to get the correct
candidates selected.
"It's the fact that I'm having to make a serious effort that is really
disconcerting," Ms. Kettles said.
Mr. Kirk said he was concerned about the voting problems.
"The good news is that I know Bruce Sherbet," he said. "I know he's
someone with integrity. We are pleading with voters to scroll through
the ballot and make sure what the ballot reflects is the way you have
voted."
Staff writers Gromer Jeffers Jr. and Todd J. Gillman contributed to
this report.
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