Montco checks for voting machine bugs
Electronic counters work, but they seem to confuse some voters.

By Pamela Lehman
Of The Morning Call

 Montgomery County officials tested voting booths Thursday in response to claims from two voters who said the machines malfunctioned during the November election.

The tests showed the machines worked properly, but the process of using the electronic machines could confuse some voters, said an unsuccessful candidate, H. Bruce Gordon, who asked the county's election director to test the machines.

''I'm happy to see things are working the way they are supposed to,'' Gordon said Thursday.

Gordon, a Democrat who lost his seat on the North Penn School Board, said he told voter services of two voters who complained the machines did not properly cast their votes.

One voter in Hatfield said she voted ''no'' on the county's $150 million open space referendum and the entire Republican ballot lit up, according to Gordon. The retesting of the machine Thursday did not support that voter's claim.

Gordon said another voter in Whitpain Township had difficulty adding a write-in candidate to his ballot.

Elections Director Joseph Passerella showed Gordon how that glitch might have happened. If voters don't press ''enter'' after typing in a name, they can't continue voting on the ballot.

''We're not saying there are devils in these machines, but wanted to do the test to get this issue resolved,'' Gordon said. ''We were trying to get to the truth.''

Gordon said he also was concerned with the time it took to answer his request to have the machines tested. He said he contacted officials Nov. 13.

''With only two voters complaining, it wasn't something up too high on our radar screen,'' said Tom Ellis, county commissioner.

Gordon was joined at the test by Rebecca Mercuri, a research fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government who studies methods used to tally votes.

Mercuri said she had concerns with security with the machines and noted the voting booths can be programmed by hand. She said someone could program the machines to ignore the voter's requests and tally false results.

''I'm not accusing Montgomery County of having security issues,'' she said. ''It's just something they should be thinking about.''

Passerella said he had no doubt the machines worked properly.

''Things went exactly they way we expected,'' he said.