Report on vote-counting mistake due this week  (OH)

Dave Greber     The Western Star    12 May 2008

HAMILTON — State and county elections officials will find out this week whether a local ballot-counting mishap has further implications.

Ballots are counted using memory cards located in separate voting machine at precincts. The cards are supposed to be read by special computers — or servers — that tabulate votes once the polls are closed.
But in the days and weeks that followed the March 4 Primary, Butler County Board of Elections officials found inconsistencies in two separate "runs" of memory cards.

The votes were eventually counted by hand, but McGary immediately alerted the Secretary of State and Premier Elections Solutions, the Diebold subsidiary that sold Butler County its voting machines.

McGary has requested the Secretary of State's office oversee the company's investigation into its machines, although Premier is inspecting only the reports from the servers and not the actual equipment.

"I just feel the ramifications to this could be so far reaching," McGary said. "The real question is: How many other counties could this have occurred in?"

Of Ohio's 88 counties, 56 — including Butler — are using the system designed by Premier Elections Solutions, McGary said.

Chris Riggall, public relations director for Premier, said the company hasn't received reports of similar problems in Ohio or elsewhere.

"We're hoping that analysis will give us a good idea of exactly what went wrong," Riggall said.

Butler County has been using the touch-screen method since 2005, and until March, reported no problems, McGary has said.

They — and other counties in Ohio — continued to use the machines despite a report late in 2007 compiled by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner that pointed out security flaws in the touch-screen voting system.

"We're just nervous that, as time goes by, more situations may occur like this," said Patrick Gallaway, director of communications for the Secretary of State. "And we're sort of in a holding pattern" until Premier's report is issued. "We're trying to move forward cautiously."

Gallaway said the Secretary of State's office sent two field representatives and a member of its legal staff to oversee the inspection process.

"We must look into this. These are not issues that should be covered up or swept under the rug," McGary said. "Let's open it all up and let everyone be on the same page.

"If we don't have the voter's confidence ... Then we all have a problem."