Cleveland Paper Cites Voter Problems
Fri Dec 10, 2:32 PM ET
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CLEVELAND - A polling place that served two adjoining precincts counted hundreds of votes for fringe presidential candidates Nov. 2, apparently because poll workers didn't instruct voters to use only the machines for their precinct, a newspaper reported Friday
The Cleveland Plain Dealer's review of voting patterns in Cuyahoga County showed that many of the approximately 1,000 voters in the two precincts cast ballots just steps away at machines meant for the other precinct.
"There was no distinction between precincts," said Katie Daley, an observer for the Democratic Party who spent Election Day at the voting place, Benedictine High School. "Voters were being told to go to any machine that was open."
The newspaper reported the problems arose because candidate names were in different positions on the ballot in different precincts. A person's punch-card ballot would be misread if he voted in the wrong precinct and the card was then read on his or her home precinct's machine.
Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) lost Ohio to President Bush (news - web sites) by about 119,000 votes out of 5.6 million cast. Voting procedures have been under scrutiny because the closely fought state put President Bush over the top in November.
At the two precincts located at Benedictine, both heavily Democratic, Libertarian Michael Badnarik received 164 votes, almost half as many as Kerry, who got 334. In the adjacent precinct, Constitution Party candidate Michael Peroutka received 215 votes to Kerry's 299.
Because most of the problems occurred in heavily Democratic precincts, the errors seem to have cost votes for Kerry, the newspaper reported.
Michael Vu, Cuyahoga County's election director, said the findings would be investigated, and said they showed the need for more poll worker training.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer's review of voting patterns in Cuyahoga County showed that many of the approximately 1,000 voters in the two precincts cast ballots just steps away at machines meant for the other precinct.
"There was no distinction between precincts," said Katie Daley, an observer for the Democratic Party who spent Election Day at the voting place, Benedictine High School. "Voters were being told to go to any machine that was open."
The newspaper reported the problems arose because candidate names were in different positions on the ballot in different precincts. A person's punch-card ballot would be misread if he voted in the wrong precinct and the card was then read on his or her home precinct's machine.
Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) lost Ohio to President Bush (news - web sites) by about 119,000 votes out of 5.6 million cast. Voting procedures have been under scrutiny because the closely fought state put President Bush over the top in November.
At the two precincts located at Benedictine, both heavily Democratic, Libertarian Michael Badnarik received 164 votes, almost half as many as Kerry, who got 334. In the adjacent precinct, Constitution Party candidate Michael Peroutka received 215 votes to Kerry's 299.
Because most of the problems occurred in heavily Democratic precincts, the errors seem to have cost votes for Kerry, the newspaper reported.
Michael Vu, Cuyahoga County's election director, said the findings would be investigated, and said they showed the need for more poll worker training.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1209/p03s01-uspo.html
Voting errors linger five weeks after election
The presidential outcome wasn't contested, but one county's woes symbolize glitches still unfixed.
By Patrik Jonsson | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – Five weeks after the election, North Carolina still doesn't know who its next agriculture commissioner will be. The reason: 4,500 votes in coastal Carteret County were lost in a computer. They simply vanished.
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From Washington, where residents are looking at a second recount in the governor's race, to North Carolina's bungled vote for a "sod father," several races remain unresolved - and even some now-settled contests have faced plenty of hurdles along the way:
• In Ohio, the state election commission has voted to allow a recount - and the Green and Libertarian parties have promised to fund it.
• In Texas, poll workers had to ship an electronic ballot box to Canada to "unfreeze" a file of votes.
• In Montana, control of the house still hangs in the balance, with a mere 2,000-vote margin now being debated and recounted.
• In Iowa, a poll supervisor had to drive hundreds of miles to find a working counting machine. Worse, the state didn't accept a federal absentee ballot for military personnel, which meant that some Iowans fighting in Iraq were not able to vote.
• And in Florida's Broward County, among other places, some voters said that when they voted for Sen. John Kerry, President Bush appeared on the screen instead. Yet charges that Mr. Bush simply couldn't have won in some areas were dispelled by media research showing that many of those who were expected to vote Democratic actually chose Bush.
• In Ohio, the state election commission has voted to allow a recount - and the Green and Libertarian parties have promised to fund it.
• In Texas, poll workers had to ship an electronic ballot box to Canada to "unfreeze" a file of votes.
• In Montana, control of the house still hangs in the balance, with a mere 2,000-vote margin now being debated and recounted.
• In Iowa, a poll supervisor had to drive hundreds of miles to find a working counting machine. Worse, the state didn't accept a federal absentee ballot for military personnel, which meant that some Iowans fighting in Iraq were not able to vote.
• And in Florida's Broward County, among other places, some voters said that when they voted for Sen. John Kerry, President Bush appeared on the screen instead. Yet charges that Mr. Bush simply couldn't have won in some areas were dispelled by media research showing that many of those who were expected to vote Democratic actually chose Bush.
