Voters find missing ballots, software problems at polls
By Richard Lake   The Clarion-Ledger   07 August 2007

More than two dozen Hinds County precincts were without Republican ballots this morning when the polls opened at 7 a.m.

Some precincts were short on Republican workers, and one had none at all.

Software problems at some Rankin County precincts caused lines to move slowly, and paper ballots had to be used elsewhere in the county.

Officials in both counties said they expected the problems to be fixed soon.

A Madison County election official said no problems had been reported there, and a representative of the ACLU said she had heard of no major problems.

Hinds County Elections Commissioner Connie Cochran said 31 duffel bags containing Republican supplies for 31 precincts were not picked up Monday night.

That means Republicans in those precincts could not vote when the polls opened.

Pete Perry, chairman of the Hinds County Republican Executive Committee, said many were delivered early this morning. There were 19 remaining to be delivered at 8:30 a.m.

By 9:30 a.m., he said all but two were being delivered. Those would be taken care of soon, he said.

Most, he said, were in precincts with few Republican voters.

“We’re getting them out there,” he said between frantic cell phone calls at the county elections commission headquarters this morning. “But these are the precincts where no Republicans vote anyway.”

In addition, he said no Republican workers showed up this morning when the polls opened in Precinct 79, which is on Ridgewood Road in north Jackson.

The party quickly got two workers there, and two more were planned to be on hand soon, Perry said.

“We’re sorry it was a problem this morning,” he said.

Elsewhere in Hinds County, voter Bill Dilday said he was directed to vote in the
wrong race.

“I’m wondering how many people have voted incorrectly,” he said.

He said he is registered in Hinds precinct 81B, but was told by poll workers to vote in 81A. When he was able to prove he’s supposed to be in 81B, he said they let him vote.

He said he saw the same thing happen to at least five people between 7:30 and 8:30 this morning.

In Rankin County, software problems were blamed for slow moving lines in at least two precincts.

Only one of six machines was working when the polls opened in Precinct 218, a fire station on Spillway Road.

Three of seven machines were working down the street at Precinct 219.

In both, lines of about 15 or 20 people snaked along slowly, but voters said the minor
delay didn’t bother them.

“Once you got in there it went pretty quickly,” said Hardy Mangum, 44, who was voting at Precinct 219.

Precinct 218 manager Harry Carr said elections workers were up very late Monday night trying to take care of the problems.

They partially succeeded.

Election Commission Chairman Harold Crain said those were the only two precincts he’d heard about with those problems.

Two other precincts in his district — 212 and 220 — had to switch to paper ballots because incorrect information was loaded onto the electronic ballots.

That also happened at precinct 318 in Puckett.

They’ve switched to paper ballots there, said Puckett Alderwoman Shirlee Stribling.
She said five people had already voted before the problem was discovered this morning. Officials are trying to locate those people.

Otherwise, Crain said, things appeared to be working well.

“People are very patient and we’re doing our best with them. We’ll make it. It may just take longer,” said Bill Young, an election worker at Precinct 219, which is in a church just off Spillway Road.

Voters seemed to be taking it all in stride.

Lloyd Chatham, 48, was the second person to vote at Precinct 218 in Rankin County.

He said he always votes, no matter what.

“These men and women are making our laws and judging us and policing us,” he said. “We have the put the right people in there. This is our opportunity. We don’t want to let it pass us by.”

The polls close at 7 p.m.