Errors found in voting machines  (KS)

GARY DEMUTH    Salina Journal   08 April 2009

Several people who ed a candidate for Salina City Commission on Tuesday might have found that the voting machine they were using instead put a checkmark by another candidate.

Voting machine errors were reported at Trinity Lutheran Church, Ninth and Crawford streets; Christ the King Lutheran Church, 111 W. Magnolia; and at a church in Kipp, according to Saline County Clerk Don Merriman.

The problem was this: When a voter pressed a certain candidate's bar on the voting machine's screen, the candidate above the ed candidate instead received the checkmark.

The error, Merriman said, most likely was caused by a calibration problem in the machine caused during transit to the polling places.

"When they were sent out, they probably got jostled and got out of calibration," he said. "They didn't recognize the touch. We had to go in and recalibrate them to make sure (the machines) understand what to record when you touch it."

While there is a possibility that a voter might not have noticed the error and accidently voted for the wrong candidate, Merriman said the chances are slim.

"There's a review section at the end so you can see who you voted for," he said. "You can also look on the audit log on the left side (of the voting machine) to verify your vote. If an error was made, you can redo it to get it where you want.

"Luckily, this doesn't happen very often."