Isolated voting problems reported across Texas

LIZ AUSTIN

Associated Press  02 November 2004

DALLAS - Long lines and stormy weather were the biggest hurdles most Texas voters faced on Election Day, but some voting machine problems were reported and an election judge accused of assaulting a federal election observer was replaced.

Dallas elections judge Julian Dean Helms was removed from his post early Tuesday after he pushed a U.S. Justice Department election observer out the door of his polling place, the Dallas County Sheriff's Department said.

The federal observer was one of two sent to the precinct based on past allegations of voting irregularities, sheriff's Sgt. Don Peritz Jr. said. Helms was replaced and the observers remained at the polling place.

Helms was not arrested and prosecutors were deciding whether to charge him with a crime.

In East Texas, some Smith County residents had trouble figuring out where to vote after the Tyler Morning Telegraph printed an incorrect list of polling places. The misprint, which listed polling places for the primary election instead of the general election, affected 27 of 77 precincts in the county, managing editor Dave Berry said.

The paper posted a corrected list on its Web site on Tuesday morning. Berry said the error made by a newsroom employee likely would lead to more stringent editing standards.

"We thought we had this pretty well checked and it still slipped through," he said.

Smith County is part of the 1st Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin is running for re-election against former appeals court judge Louie Gohmert.

Gohmert spokesman Keats Norfleet said they sent an e-mail to supporters with a list of correct polling places. He said several people also called their headquarters asking where to vote.

"We were a little concerned, but we knew our ... supporters would be resourceful and find out exactly where to vote," he said.

A Sandlin spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.

In Harris County, voters at a polling place near Pearland stood in long lines because six of the site's 11 electronic voting machines malfunctioned for four hours. The machines were fixed by 11 a.m., but about 50 people had already walked out without voting, elections judge Nedra Ward told the Houston Chronicle.

David Beirne, a spokesman for the Harris County clerk's office, said the county dealt with minor problems with 25 to 30 of its Hart InterCivic eSlate voting machines.

"We run into this situation with every single election," he said. "When you deploy 10,000 units you're going to have a small number that go down."

Scattered glitches also were reported across Travis County, where clerks at two precincts accidentally hit buttons that shut down electronic voting. Paper ballots were used until the equipment was replaced, said Mary Fero, a spokeswoman for the Travis County Clerk's Elections Division.