Ballots not being recorded at two Leon County polling places  (FL)

Angeline J. Taylor   Tallahassee Democrat   20 October 2008

Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho has reported that ballots at the Woodville and Northeast branches are not being read properly. The problem, he said, rests with a new machine that has been purchased for polling sites throughout the state.

The machine, deemed the OSX, has what Sancho called a sensitivity problem.

“Certain ballots are being rejected across the state,” he said. “The machine is too sensitive for differing lengths.”

If the machine reads the ballot card as too long, the OSX machine will simply not read the card.

“This is not a Leon County problem. This is a state problem,” Sancho said.
Ion said the machines are being used only at those sites.

The plan is to allow for voting for the remainder of the day. Once these two polling stations close at 6 p.m., the OSX machines will be replaced with optical scanners.

Sancho said that each person that has voted today is welcome to come back after 6 p.m. to make sure that their vote counts. He said all of the ballots will be taken out of the ballot box and run through the optical scanners.

“The issue is not one that would cause Leon County voters to be concerned,” he said.

Sancho said there are representatives from the both the Republican and Democratic parties on hand to review the problem.