Day before early voting, glitch found with machines  (WV)

Matthew Thompson   Charleston Daily Mail   14 October 2008

CHARLESTON, W.Va. On the eve of early voting, problems with the general election ballots are causing Kanawha County officials to conduct an emergency test of its voting machines.

On Monday, the Secretary of State's office notified the County Clerk's office of a problem in the programming cards used in the M100 machines.

The machines scan a person's optical scan ballot to determine if they have made any mistakes, such as voting for too many candidates.

County Commission President Kent Carper said the problem is in the section for Supreme Court candidates.

If a person votes a straight party ticket, then deviates from the party in the Supreme Court section, the machine still counts the vote as a full straight ticket, Carper said.

Carper said he's pleased the mistake was caught before early voting begins Wednesday at 8 a.m.

"There's a glitch and they caught it and corrected it, but I have to say it's not a great confidence builder," Carper said. "Voter confidence is paramount."

The test was to be held today at the voter's registration offices.

The test will include the Board of Canvassers, which includes members of the county commission and ballot commissioners from both Democratic and Republican parties.

The test is to ensure the cards are reprogrammed and can properly tabulate the straight ticket votes.

The county had a mandatory public test of the machines last week.

Carper said he's blaming Election Systems and Software, or ES&S, for the problem. The company prepares the software for the machines.

With optical scan, voters use a black pen provided by the precinct to fill in ovals next to candidate's names on a paper ballot. The M100 machines then scan and count the ballots.

They were first used two years ago when some counties in the state switched to new voting systems to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. The act mandated that all states eliminate punch card or lever voting machines by Jan. 1, 2006.

Prior to early voting in the 2006 primary, the company disclosed it was behind in preparing the computerized ballots for the state's Automark touch-screen machines.

The delay affected all 55 counties that use the machines as a main method of voting or as a handicapped-accessible alternative, which Kanawha does.

"Here we go again," Carper said. "I think we should be concerned here, especially a day before early voting."

Commissioner Dave Hardy said he's not worried that voter confidence could be damaged.

He said last week's test did its job in finding problems with the ballot.

"The system worked," Hardy said. "We did the test, it was timely reviewed by the Secretary of State's office and they identified the problem and we're fixing the problem."

Officials with the Secretary of State's were unable to be reached for comment. It is unknown how many counties have been affected by the programming error.

Beginning Wednesday, Kanawha County voters can cast early ballots at the Voter's Registration Office at 415 Quarrier St. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. every Thursday.

People can also vote on two Saturdays, Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, when the office will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The general election is Nov. 4. The polls will be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.