Manatee solves vote-counting problem (FL)
Herald Tribune. November 5, 2008. By Christopher O'Donnell

Manatee elections officials have solved their vote-counting problem.

The problem in the uploading of election results was solved midmorning and the remaining 50,000 or so votes from Tuesday, absentee ballots and early voting have been tabulated.

The Florida Secretary of State’s Office notified Manatee elections officials that they needed the tabulation of the 50,000 or so uncounted ballots.

Local and regional races also could be affected by the Manatee results, including Palmetto mayor and commission, Bradenton Beach commission and regional races such as the Florida House District 69 race and the public defender’s race, which remains very close.

Manatee officials had been working since early this morning to try to solve the ballot-counting glitch that delayed election results.

A technician who worked with officials last night was back on the scene at the election headquarters today to try to fix a software problem that created an error message when officials tried to upload ballot information.

The glitch has prevented them from entering roughly 50,000 votes cast Tuesday, in early voting and through absentee ballots. The problem surfaced about 9 p.m. Tuesday as thousands of pieces of ballot information were being uploaded and counted.

The company that provides the election system is Premier Elections Solutions out of Texas.

Officials hand-entered the final nine precincts from Tuesday’s vote, but thousands of absentee and early vote ballot totals have not been tabulated.

Supervisor of Elections Bob Sweat said the canvassing board, which gives final approval to vote totals, would meet at noon or sooner if possible to certify the votes and provide closure to races still undecided.