QUOTE
April 19, 2006
Hand counts needed in 2 school board races
Computers can't cope with complex voting rules
Poll workers will have to hand-count ballots on May 2 in the Washington and Decatur township school board races after a test of voting machines revealed a programming problem Tuesday.
The latest challenge for Marion County election officials affects about 315 precincts. Results for those two school board races likely will not be known until Wednesday, the day after the election, or later.
"My suspicion is we'll be lucky if the results are available by Friday," said Gregory Wright, a candidate for the Washington Township School Board. "It's a little disappointing, but my thoughts go out to the people who have to do all that hard work."
The problem stems from the complexity of the voting rules in those two townships. Voters must choose a certain number of candidates within each district and a total number within the township.
The computer program can't handle the complexity of several variations within one list in case a voter fills in too many candidates.
"The software wasn't written to cover this situation," said Marion County Clerk Doris Anne Sadler. "It's pretty unusual."
Election officials have had a number of problems in preparing for next month's primary elections.
Marion County already has scrapped plans to use touch-screen machines for disabled voters because of software problems and the complexity of county ballots.
In addition, a federal judge has ruled that the state can implement new voter identification requirements that will fall to poll workers to enforce.
Officials worry that the latest glitch could discourage poll workers from turning out next month.
Sadler said it's already difficult to recruit and train more than 5,000 poll workers for a primary election.
Hand counts needed in 2 school board races
Computers can't cope with complex voting rules
Poll workers will have to hand-count ballots on May 2 in the Washington and Decatur township school board races after a test of voting machines revealed a programming problem Tuesday.
The latest challenge for Marion County election officials affects about 315 precincts. Results for those two school board races likely will not be known until Wednesday, the day after the election, or later.
"My suspicion is we'll be lucky if the results are available by Friday," said Gregory Wright, a candidate for the Washington Township School Board. "It's a little disappointing, but my thoughts go out to the people who have to do all that hard work."
The problem stems from the complexity of the voting rules in those two townships. Voters must choose a certain number of candidates within each district and a total number within the township.
The computer program can't handle the complexity of several variations within one list in case a voter fills in too many candidates.
"The software wasn't written to cover this situation," said Marion County Clerk Doris Anne Sadler. "It's pretty unusual."
Election officials have had a number of problems in preparing for next month's primary elections.
Marion County already has scrapped plans to use touch-screen machines for disabled voters because of software problems and the complexity of county ballots.
In addition, a federal judge has ruled that the state can implement new voter identification requirements that will fall to poll workers to enforce.
Officials worry that the latest glitch could discourage poll workers from turning out next month.
Sadler said it's already difficult to recruit and train more than 5,000 poll workers for a primary election.