Burke may tinker with ballot format

Elections chief plans to keep voting machines

HANNAH MITCHELL AND MARK JOHNSON  Charlotte Observer   23 January 2005

Many Burke County voters could have been confused by the electronic ballots used in November, and the county's election director said Burke may change the ballot format but he has no plans to change the voting machines.

More than 10 percent of voters who cast ballots in Burke did not vote in the presidential race a rate that was four to five times higher than nearly all other N.C. counties.

N.C. Board of Elections officials have concluded that voters could have been confused by the electronic ballots, which listed the straight-party ticket on the same screen as the presidential election.

A straight-party vote, which s all candidates from the ed party, applies to all races except for president, a distinction in North Carolina that dates back to the 1960s and continues to confuse voters.

Burke voters easily could have thought a straight party vote included the presidency unless they carefully read the wording, Don Wright, general counsel for the state board who visited Burke, has said.

But the undervote in Burke also was high for other offices that were included in the straight-party ion.

Greer Suttlemyre Jr., Burke elections board director, said he will likely propose that the straight-party and presidential ions be put on different screens on the county's electronic voting machines in the future.

"That will be a matter our board will have to discuss in four years when it comes up," Suttlemyre said. "As far as our election equipment, we don't have money to replace it. At this point, we have no reason to think our equipment has not done an accurate count."

Suttlemyre said he has no idea what may have caused high undervotes for other offices included in the straight-party ion.

"I'm open to suggestions" on how to avoid high undervotes for those offices, Suttlemyre said.

State officials are investigating the voting problems. "I suspect there will be suggestions coming from there on what we as a state, as well as we as a county, will do," he said.

But he said the county does not plan to change the Unilect electronic voting machines, the same type used in Carteret County, where 4,438 votes were lost in November's election. The county paid $546,650 for the Unilect models, which were first used in 2000.

Suttlemyre speculated that part of the problem may have been lack of familiarity with the machines by voters who did not cast ballots in 2000.

"It was a record turnout (this year)," he said. "That means people voted who may never have voted on the touch screen."

Burke County officials want to avoid future high undervotes, Suttlemyre said. "We're certainly willing to do what is thought appropriate by the state board and our board here to make it better for the voters."