Memory card problem will not affect Torrington polls (CT)
The Register Citizen. November 4, 2008. By JORDAN FENSTER

A problem at the polls in Torrington will not affect voters or results, the registrar of voters said Tuesday morning.

When setting up the polls on the morning of Election Day, poll workers had some difficulty with the rather new technology. Last year, Connecticut switched to OptiScan voting technology and registrars statewide have been preparing voters for the change ever since.

"The machine wouldn’t read the memory cards," Registrar of Voters John Ciesco said.

Here’s the good news: Connecticut has planned for just such a contingency. Every polling place was provided with backup memory cards so, when the polls opened, the machines were set and ready to go.

"That was prior to the polls opening," Ciesco said.

Just in case, however, a messenger was dispatched from the University of Connecticut’s main campus, where spare memory cards are stored as "another backup," according to Ciesco.

As of noon Tuesday, poll numbers in Torrington were not out of line with previous elections, as some had suspected they would be.

"The numbers really aren’t all that much higher than they were in 2004," Ciesco said. "It’s up by three voters."