Electoral board says mistake didn't affect treasurer's election  (VA)

TIM DAVIS/Star-Tribune   20 November 2008

Pittsylvania County's Electoral Board said Thursday it regrets a voting machine mistake that caused some voters to leave polling places without voting for treasurer, but is confident the error did not affect the outcome of the election.

Teresa Easley of Chatham received 12,781 votes while Kate Berger of Gretna received 11,359. Chad Miller of Dry Fork finished a distant third with 4,235.

Easley was certified the winner shortly after the election and sworn in Monday afternoon in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court. She took office Tuesday.

County election officials, however, admitted some voters may have left polling places on Nov. 4 without voting for treasurer because the candidates were not on electronic ballots.

Registrar Jenny Lee Sanders blamed the mistake on a faulty computer program.

An independent contractor in Massachusetts programmed the county's Unilect Patriot voting machines for the election.

The machines have three ballots - presidential, federal, and full.

The presidential ballot included only candidates for president, while the federal included both candidates for president and the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.

The full ballot, which included all three, should have been on all of the county's voting machines, but somehow the program was reversed on some machines and the treasurer candidates didn't appear.

In testing the machines, Sanders said she noticed a glitch with some machines and told the programmer, but was assured everything would be fine.

Mike Ashworth, an election worker at Tunstall High School, was the first to discover the problem when he voted shortly before the polls opened at 6 a.m.

Ashworth immediately called the registrar's office in Chatham.

"As soon as we realized what it was, we all got on the phones and called the (precinct) chiefs," Sanders said.

The registrar said most precincts were notified by 6:30 a.m. Others corrected the problem by 7 a.m., she said

All three electoral board members - chairman Dorothy Neals, vice chairman Raymond Ramsey and secretary Brenda Arthur - were at the registrar's office when the problem was first reported.

"We were here when we realized there was a problem and made a decision right away to go to paper ballots," Ramsey said.

According to Sanders, 46 paper ballots were cast in the treasurer's election.

At least one precinct tried to call voters who left before the problem was corrected and asked them to come back and vote again.

"Nobody denied anybody the opportunity to vote," Sanders said.

According to the registrar, 12 of the county's 29 precincts reported problems. They included Chatham, Sandy Level, Climax, Central, Mount Airy, Motley-Sycamore, Renan, Bearskin, Swansonville, Brosville, Dry Fork and Ferry Road.

"It didn't happen at every precinct, but every precinct was programmed the same," Sanders said. "This is just so bizarre."

Berger, who lost by a little more than 1,400 votes, complained to the Pittsylvania County Electoral Board and State Board of Elections, but would have to challenge the election in court.

A State Board of Elections official is scheduled to be in Chatham today to meet with the electoral board and registrar.

Berger, Easley, and Miller also have been invited to the meeting.

Election officials don't believe enough voters could have slipped through to make a difference.

"There's no way it would have affected the outcome of the election," said Arthur.

The electoral board, which is appointed by the circuit court, said voting machines will be tested thoroughly in the future.

"We regret that it happened," said Arthur. "We will do everything we possibly can to make sure it doesn't happen again."