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Politics

Few glitches in early voting

More than 60,000 people in the bay area have already cast ballots.

By ALISA ULFERTS
Published November 1, 2006

Martha Lenderman voted early last week and encountered a small problem: The electronic machine at the James Weldon Johnson Library in St. Petersburg wouldn't respond to her touch.

A quick consult with a poll worker and the problem - an improperly calibrated screen -was fixed.

Lenderman cast her ballot, but she still worried about voters who might be unwilling to ask for help. She called Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark and was reassured by Clark herself that workers would double-check all the machines.

Despite similar minor glitches, more than 60,000 Tampa Bay area residents have already joined Lenderman in voting early. Select poll sites have been open since Oct. 23.

By some estimates, as many as 40 percent of Florida voters will have cast their votes - either through early voting or absentee - before Election Day.

"We have had 9,900 people since the beginning, and we are really busy today," said Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning on Tuesday.

County elections supervisors say they've had no reports of major problems. Some voters, like Lenderman, have had to get workers to help them with finicky machines, but that's been the worst of it, county officials say.

That's good news, considering that some elections experts are predicting more problems than usual this year because of the combination of new machines and new regulations. This is the first year that all elements of a 2002 federal law intended to upgrade voting equipment and beef up voter registration requirements, the Help America Vote Act, must be in place.

More than one-third of all voters in the U.S. will vote on electronic touch screen machines this year. That's up exponentially from 2000, when problems with Florida counties' punch-card systems and the confusion they caused in the presidential election led Congress to appropriate $3.9-billion to buy new equipment and unify voter registration systems.

But the overnight acquisition of the electronic machines has not been hiccup-free. Distrust of the machines, which has been fueled by reports from federal auditors and academics detailing security flaws, has led some groups to demand a backup paper trail.

"Absolutely," Frank Hogan said when asked if he wanted a paper trail. The Lutz resident voted early and said his machine kept showing a vote for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris when Hogan said he wanted to vote for Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. The matter was straightened out, but Hogan didn't buy poll workers' explanation that there was a slight misalignment in the screen.

"It's suspicious," Hogan said.

Following the release of the electronic machine security reports, Florida elections officials ordered counties to have at least two people present at all times when voting machines are being programmed and set up, and when their results are transmitted to the main office. The new security rule applies not only to touch screen machines but also to optical scanner equipment, which uses an electronic memory card to store votes.

Most of Florida's counties that needed to update their equipment did so already in 2002, and 15 counties use electronic machines exclusively. But this year is the first that every precinct in Florida must have an electronic machine to allow those with disabilities, particularly the visually impaired, vote without assistance.

And that could create some slowdowns in vote tabulation, as it did in Hernando County during the Sept. 5 primary, for counties that use optical scanners for most voters but electronic machines for others.

Lenderman said that while she's confident elections officials will stay on top of any problems that surface on Election Day, she still worries that people who have trouble with electronic machines will get frustrated and simply walk away.

"I worry about people who are voting for the first time. They might be embarrassed to ask for help," Lenderman said.

[Last modified November 1, 2006, 07:02:32]